Growing Cold
by nobother
Summary: A happening with Naruto's seal releases something from his family. A coma insues and a different Naruto awakens. No pairings, will take suggestions. Rated M for later chapters. First Fic. please R&R.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

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"Esteemed Council, I have called this meeting to inform you of recent developments concerning one five year-old Naruto Uzumaki," stated Hiruzen Sarutobi. The quiet room seemed to settle into a multitude of murmurings. Signaling for silence the Sandaime continued, "Now I know that most of you dislike and ignore the boy but he was found unconscious in an alley after a large discharge of chakra. Around the boy rapid dogs were found, all dead by the time the ANBU arrived to investigate."

An uproar was heard from the group that had been gathered. One Hiashi Hyuga decided to voice his question strait to the source before things got out of hand. "What was the nature of the chakra and why does this concern all of us?" Everyone quieted to hear what the Sandaime would say.

"This chakra that was unleashed was not demonic but happened to be different. It reminded some of the ANBU of one of their member's chakra, the one known as Yamato who is able to use the first's mokuton jutsu. In fact when the ANBU arrived they found some startling things. One is that plants were shielding the boy and ice had formed into pillars killing the dogs. It is believed that the boy did both these things."

Silence met this statement. No one could believe that the container had not only unlocked one of the most powerful kekkei genkais from Kiri but also the prized ability of the Shodai. Two kekkei genkais in one person was unheard of in the shinobi world.

"How did this happen, how does he have the genes for either and how did he achieve having both activate!" demanded the advisor Homura.

"Yes, how did an orphan gain such power?" inquired Danzo.

"I was required to keep his lineage secure until such time as I deemed that he could protect himself. Very few know besides me. But seeing as this incident has occurred I will inform everyone here, but if word of his heritage or of his kekkei genkais gets out, I will find out who spread that information and personally destroy them." Everyone else in the room shuddered slightly from his words, knowing that he would carry them out.

"His mother was Kushina Uzumaki, the last of her clan that fled from Uzu no Kuni after its destruction. Before going to Uzu though her clan had come from Kiri, the clan was formed by members of the Koori (ice) clan that could for, whatever reason, not unlock their bloodline but still carried the genes to pass it on. He obviously inherited that set of genes from his mother. His father on the other hand was the second cousin of Tsunade Senju and was related to the Shodai through his mother, which would be Naruto's paternal grandmother."

"And who was his father?" ask Koharu.

"Why the man who sealed the Kyūbi, Minato Namikaze," stated Sarutobi bluntly.

Silence and the Sandaime took the opportunity to state what would happen.

"I have told Jiraiya to seek out Tsunade and to bring her back. He will check the seal and she will check on our comatose patient. Meanwhile I ask Inoichi to check on his mind and hopefully help in anyway possible. When I have more information I will inform the council, until then you are dismissed and do not bring this up."

Sarutobi quickly left before he could be pestered to say more.

XXXXX

6 Months later

"Councilors we are here for the report from Jiraiya, Tsunade and Inoichi on how the still comatose Naruto Uzumaki is doing. We will start with Jiraiya," stated Sarutobi before sitting and allowing his former student to take the podium.

"To begin with I ask for your questions to wait until the end," Jiraiya stated as the councilors settled in to hear him. "When I examined the seal I found some of the previously inactive, and therefore unobservable, seal arrays were active and I was then able to discover their purpose. These arrays which had previously been inactive were designed to protect the boy until age ten, when it was deemed that he would be trained enough to protect himself from most danger inside the village and at such a point these arrays would never have activated. Seeing as this was the first incident that the boy felt his life was on the line the arrays activated. The other reason for the array is that at ten he would have been sufficiently mature enough that Kyūbi charka would not corrupt him in the miniature doses that would then have been released for his body to filter naturally which also would have increased his healing rate several times over. What the arrays attempted to do was forcibly convert the Kyūbi's chakra into a human and medical chakra mix to protect his life. This process releases a large amount and also is not very controlled or efficient, hence why the large release happened. In the process of releasing this charka I believe that it released his kekkei genkais, although Tsunade has more information on that. Any questions?"

"Why are the arrays still active if they have completed their major function of saving the boy?" asked Shibi Aburame.

"Tsunade can answer that when talking about his health. If that is it then Tsunade can take over," was his last comment as he left the podium.

Tsunade quickly got up and started "I would ask for you to hold your questions again. Now then his body has been trying to deal with the kekkei genkais. Normally when someone has the genes for two kekkei genkais the body produces chemicals to activate each and these chemicals react with each other before activating the kekkei genkai and neither can activate as a result. Because of the large influx of chakra, both human and medical, it solved this problem by making the kekkei genkais one and creating a new activation chemical. He will most likely be able to pass down this trait if he has offspring. But with this rapid mutation his own body began to fight itself, take into account that he is also dealing with strained chakra coils form the sudden increase in amount and his body trying to deal with that by adding tenketsu points to help regulate and how the new medical chakra in his coils is healing all this before the medics can find the damage his body is literally tearing itself apart and healing then over and over. This is the reason the seal is still active, the seal believes he is still in danger by the amount of damage he is sustaining. He will eventually wake up from his coma but only after he is finished adjusting to the chakra and his new kekkei genkais, which could take years. Also his charka itself will be different, it will have healing properties of its own, whether that can be passed down to his children or not I cannot tell you, but he himself will heal very rapidly, especially if he concentrates on the area needing healing. I will take questions now."

"Would he be able to have children with another kekkei genkai present?" asked a curious Hiashi.

"While I highly doubt that could happen, but it may if his healing also passes to his kids. But just to remind you all that since he is the first generation of this new kekkei genkai it may have some adverse effects on him. Eventually far enough along these effects may dissipate in his family but could be present in him."

"What types of adverse effects?" was Tsume Inuzaka's question.

"Well the first two generations of Hyuga had a tendency to go blind from the eyes being too sensitive. The first generation of Uchiha went insane believing everyone moved to slow because to brain couldn't, at the time, adapt to the difference between when their eye was active and when it wasn't. And I believe that the Kaguya developed leukemia from over use of their kekkei genkai. So we have no idea what could affect him from this new kekkei genkai. Any other questions?" Tsunade not seeing any sat down.

Inoichi approached the podium nervously and set down some notes before peering out towards the crowd. "Before I begin I must ask that what I am about to reveal is disturbing so please bear with me until the end. I examined the boys mind on several occasions before this incident and did not see serious problems until after the incident. This boy has had a mental break caused by a mixture of the strain on the brain caused by adapting to two new kekkei genkais, which were not suppose to activate, the constant breaking and healing Tsunade mentioned and interactions with the fox demon. The mental strain and constant pulling of the demon chakra awoke the demon and he is currently trying to stop himself from 'feeding the seal' as the demon stated to me. The demon though is losing tails and will be absorbed by the child eventually, especially if the current arrays stay active." He had to stop because of the yells and cries for joy that happened throughout the room.

"But that is not all," he yelled trying to stop the cries and control the crowd. "When he goes all his memories may well be passed on to the child." That silenced the room. "Dealing with that amount of information and the memories of death and destruction along with his already fragile state from finding out of the demon and possibly missing years worth of his own experience could cause him problems. The most I can do is try and help him by talking to his inner self. But that will only go so far. When he wakes up we must be careful with him. Try not to pressure him or force him into stressful situations. Treat him as nice as possible would be the best for when he wakes up. He will most likely trust no one, he doesn't even trust me. The demon has much more time to influence him then I do and it is trying desperately to try and make him weak enough to break out. Jiraiya informs me that it can't be free but it can damage the host mentally which it may do as an act of revenge. Any questions will now be accepted."

No one spoke until the Sandaime finally spoke "Thank you Inoichi for your report, I will want you to keep up these treatment periods. Now then, when Naruto wakes up would you, Inoichi, suggest he be told of his family or not and what of the ninja academy?"

"I would say tell him of his family if only to prevent a relapse later and I would also send him to the academy as soon as you could get him caught up. If he was to make a friend then the mental trauma could begin to heal faster. If there are no more questions I would like to go home."

"Hai, I believe we all would. This meeting is adjourned, we will pick up this topic when Naruto awakens and has been informed of everything. Dismissed," cried the Sandaime.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

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It had been five years since Naruto had slipped into a coma. During those five years there had been many reports by Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Inoichi regarding his health. It had been five years full of waiting.

"Hokage-sama, the boy has awoken," was all the messenger was able to say before the Hokage was up and out of the office headed toward the hospital.

Sarutobi made it to the hospital, a normal ten minute journey at shinobi speeds, in under a minute and was headed towards the now familiar restricted wing of the hospital. As he made it towards the door his one time female student barred his way.

"What are you doing Tsunade, I need to see him and explain everything," he demanded.

"No you don't. He knows and doesn't trust you or anyone else for that fact," was her response to his demand.

"What do you mean he knows? I know Inoichi did not tell him."

"He won't say but he does not want visitors and I can hardly blame him. He just woke up and is told it has been five years, during which people have entered his mind, probed his body and seal. He probably feels violated and untrusting towards people he thought would protect him."

"I understand all this but I must have a discussion with him, before I convene the council. Hopefully I can talk him into trusting me or someone again soon for his sake," he said solemnly.

"You can try," was the only reply he recieved.

Sarutobi slowly entered the dimly lit room. He headed towards the bed to find the weak looking blonde boy sitting up staring into space. When the child turned his head towards the aged man there was a distinct look of recognition but other then that the face remained impassive towards the aged Hokage.

"Ah, Naruto, I see that you are awake and doing well. I would like to talk to you about some important matters concerning the power you displayed five years ago and some matters that those powers have caused," stated Sarutobi.

"So, is this about my kekkei genkais, my family, the seal and fox, or what the council wants?" was Naruto's quiet reply.

"All of the above actually, hehe," said Saurtobi, trying to lighten the mood. He continued, "How did you know of all those you have been out of it for five years."

"Even in a coma I heard things, plus that mind walker mumbled things when he thought I wasn't with him in my mind. The fox even told some of it, or I remember some of it, I am not sure about that part. But I am sure that you have lied along with everyone one else. I had a family you knew about, I had a godfather who was to look after me. I even had a house. But I was given none of it. As for the council, tell them I will be present within a month to discuss my circumstance. Now please leave me Sarutobi, I must regain my strength," Naruto stated slowly and calmly, with rage barely hidden beneath the surface.

Saurtobi sighed as he got up and headed towards the door, "For what it is worth we are all sorry it turned out this way."

Later in the council room the Hokage had the three that attended to Naruto talk about how was doing and the three reports on him. Jiraiya started with "As far as I can tell the seal is gone, taking the fox with it and everything has worked its course in that regard." There were some cheers and happy mumblings from the assembled peoples.

Inoichi stood up next. "While I can confirm that the fox is gone I was correct in predicting that the fox's memories merged with him. However the damage his mind sustained and what shape it is in now I have no clue about. Shortly after the memories merged he awoke and has refused further treatment." There were again some cheers but also some worried looks from the more experienced shinobi.

Tsunade stood up with the final report. "According to my last scan, which was taken before he awoke, his coils are massive and he has nearly one hundred more tenketsu points and even some extra pathways, all to accommodate his enormous reserves. I personally have never seen such large reserves in a human; even with the seal wasting a large amount it also converted a large amount. He will be up quickly but should not be able to do much for a while because of his muscles atrophying. I would tell you more but he has refused to allow me to continue observations and has against my wishes checked out of the hospital."

"Can't you keep him there and forcibly treat him?" was one councilor's question.

"I could if he was an active shinobi, but I wouldn't. If I even tried it could jeopardize his willingness to cooperate at a later time."

"So these are the findings of his supervising team, when he checked out I had ANBU tail him to make sure he was alright and unmolested. While most of the population doesn't know why he is back their opinions have not changed thanks to no one leaking the information. There initial report indicates that he had some trouble getting himself and his wheelchair up the stairs to his apartment until a tree grew under him, taking him to the top. While this is impressive I believe we can hold off on some decisions on his future until a later date," Stated Sarutobi.

"And why should we hold off?" questioned Danzo.

"While it isn't customary to allow it I believe his circumstances allow a little leeway when it comes to it. You see during my brief visit to Naruto he stated that he wished to be in the room when we made those decisions and also that he would be ready in one month. I believe extending this courtesy would be of the utmost benefit to both parties," was his calm reply.

"Yes, we do not want to scare him off. He could get offers from any number of villages for his abilities. He hasn't sworn loyalty of any kind to us and we have very few people that tie him to the village. We must proceed cautiously so as not to warrant negative responses. If we offer him a seat on the council later in life, say when he meets Jonin, along with his inheritance then we not only gain him but also potential offspring that could show his abilities. We may also want to require a certain number of children to gain these benefits," was Homura's vigorous reply with many other councillors nodding along.

"I will reconvene the council at that time to make a decision and we will delve further into it then. You are all dismissed," called the Hokage before anything unsightly happened.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

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One month after waking from his coma Naruto was before the council on his request. His future would be decided during this session and he was hell bent on having his own say in the matter. He was still pale and needed the aid of a walking stick from how he leaned on it as he entered. He had more mass now, mostly in his legs to support walking. He wore a formal kimono to this gathering and sat near the door.

"We have called this council to discuss one Naruto Uzumaki and his status within the village and all matters to concerning him," opened the Sandaime.

"I would like to purpose that he gains a council seat and clan right upon him reaching Jonin and having three children over the age of two," was Homura's opening statement.

"I totally agree," Naruto spoke for the first time. "This makes my decision to stay in the village or leave very simple. With that rule in place there is nothing tying me here and I will go now." Naruto stood up to leave in front of the stunned crowd.

"What do you mean leave, you can't just leave us," cried one of the councilors.

"Actually I can. You see, during the one month I gave you to rectify certain situations you did not. I on the other hand studied the law and now know my rights. I will explain if you all want but in the end it does not matter."

"Yes, if you could please explain by what you meant earlier," was Shibi Aburame's reply.

"Of course, according to the Shodai Hokage a civilian is defined as 'one who is without clan, shinobi status or kekkei genkai.' By this definition I am not a civilian, but nor am I a shinobi, and Homura just stated that I don't have clan status. This means I am a free agent that can go anywhere that I desire without your interference. Had I been part of a clan I would have to file paperwork that dissolves me of any affiliation with Konoha and promise on the word of my ancestors to never reveal Konoha's secrets along with many other tedious things that would tie me here for a long while and I would only be able to leave after some wrong had been done to me. Now I have to do none of that. And besides the fact that you cannot bestow upon someone clan status if they are unwilling to accept it the only way for me to have clan status now would be if I was the last of a clan that had sworn allegiance to Konoha."

"Ah but you are the last of your clan. You are the last Namikaze and as such are subject to clan laws," was Koharu's smug statement.

"If that were true I would have the Namikaze name along with several other important factors," was his curt reply.

"What other factors?" asked Hiashi.

"Why as the last of a clan I would have been given the clan house and all clan scrolls and money upon turning six to help support myself, all this by the clan charter that all clans are subject to and if one of these points in the charter are broken the clan that broke is banished or the clan that was victim to this unlawful act can leave without any further ado. I was generous in giving you one month after my awakening to put everything in my possession seeing as I was due them years ago. I had realized that outstanding circumstances had inhibited this and was willing to allow leeway, but more then a month is to long."

"Why are we listening to this child? While he brings up some good points we have his godfather to represent him and so he should not even be speaking in this assembly," was Danzo's comment.

"I have no legal guardian," was Naruto's impatient reply. He just wanted this to be over.

"What do you mean gaki? I am your godfather and therefore legal guardian," cried out Jiraiya.

"No you are not. If you were at one time you are no more. The Nidaime had a law placed on the books that states 'if ones legal guardian has not been present for more than two years and has not even endeavored to see his/her charge then he/she is removed from their position as caretaker.' It never states onto whose care they are given but seeing as I live on my own I would say my own care would be fine. And therefore seeing as I have no one to represent my interests on this council I must be in attendance to all meetings concerning my person. This is the only way this council can even discuss me now that I am awake, because as the Shodia stated in the first opening of the council 'all people will and must be represented.' On that note I will be leaving now," Naruto stated and got up to leave for the second time.

"What would make you stay? What would we have to do to make you stay in the village?" was the question Sarutobi finally voiced.

Naruto turned and looked at them all and says "I will stay but I want what is mine. By that I mean everything owned by the Namikaze and my 'mother'" He stated harshly. "I also want land just outside these walls, about ten acres. I want a name change, I will no longer go by Naruto Uzumaki; I am now Naruto Touketsu Ki (frozen wood). I will also want all my medical records and bodily samples that were taken but have not been destroyed yet. I want those because they never should have been taken in the first place. I want this all announced at a village wide assembly, so I am not called by the wrong name or hated for what is in the past. I would also like compensation for neglect by the village on the order of two million ryu. And last but not least I want special clan status, one that recognizes me as a clan but not as one associated to the village. I promise I will stay but if my children choose to leave they will be able to with no consequences. That is all, but if I receive this and someone wanders onto my property I will hold the right, as all clans do, to decide their fate for trespassing."

"Council, what say you on his demands, we have no other way to keep him here legally and he is now well known to have the Shodai's kekkei genkai now after using it in the village. What say you?" asked the weary Hokage.

After the vote was tallied it was decidedly in Nauto's favor. After the results he simply walked out after telling the Hokage he would be by later for everything he needed.

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AN: He is more mature and smart because the fox's memories have made him mature. He also had one month to read and plot for obtaining what he wants. He is not as broken as Inoichi thought because Inoichi didn't see him after the merging. He has other plans and those will come later. You will get an insight into his thinking next chapter. He dislikes most people and won't live in his father's house. He can wield wood and ice decently but not much else.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

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Naruto arrived in the Hokage's office to receive what was his. As he entered he noticed that the Hokage looked slightly disgruntled and tired. He greeted the age leader and waited.

"So you are here to receive some items I believe? Well here is the scroll that your mother left you, within that scroll is all her jutsu and kenjutsu and tiajutsu styles. I also believe her sword is in there," stated Sarutobi handing over a medium sized scroll with a blood seal on it. "Here is the scroll with your father's letter along with keys to his house and directions. This final scroll details the land that you have been given, although I am curious as to why you asked for it when you will have a clan compound to live in?"

"That is for me to know. As to everything else I thank you for the haste in which I have received this. It only took several unlikely events, five years in a coma and a threat to leave for me to be granted these," stated Naruto with some badly disguised sarcasm.

"If it was up to me none of this would have happened. It was my greatest regret that you had to go through that. Please don't hate them for it though," asked the sad old man as he stared straight at the boy.

"Who am I not suppose to hate; the villagers who disregarded me, my father who sealed a demon in me, my mother who didn't stop him, my former godfather who abandoned me, or you who lied so often to me? And how can I not hate them when they have not even tried. Some will suck up to me, some will try to explain to me but none will try or even ask. I have been told and manipulated to do things for to long. I will become a shinobi not for others but myself. I will become powerful for myself. That is my nindo, myself first others after. I will attend the academy when it starts in one month. Until then I will be on my properties."

With that Naruto got up and left. Sarutobi sighed and sat there feeling all his years catching up with him. "Where did I and the village go wrong?"

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Few hours later

Nauto was at his new property as dusk was growing closer. In his hands he had all the scrolls full of all possessions in the Namikaze home plus his old apartment, a large supply of food he had bought and his mother scroll. He had smirk at the people who gasped after he had coated the Namikaze home in ice and the wood to make sure there were no intruders. He was currently going toward the middle of his property after figuring out the borders. He concentrated and caused a wooden wall surround hi property that included a lake and stream. He then proceeded to create an overhang and camped out underneath it.

He woke up the next day a proceeded to try and work on making a more permanent house for himself. It took him most of the day to get a useable shack to live in for now but he was happy. He proceeded head inside and store all his scrolls except some containing a small bed and sheets. He proceeded to set up the bed and fall asleep.

Over the one month he proceeded to improve his body slightly but concentrated more on learning his kekkei genkais. He continued to improve in hyoton and mokuton jutsu areas and even made some his own after reading on how to make jutsu. He also continued to improve slowly upon his house. He left his mother's sword and the taijutsu and kenjutsu scrolls alone. He worked on some basic sealing so he could seal off his property if he needed. While he may not like the man his father did know sealing and how to explain it in his writing. But his time alone was not to last and soon he had to head toward the academy for his first day.

"Ok everyone sit down and shut up," yelled one irate chunin instructor towards his class. "We have a new student joining us today. He would have joined earlier but was unable to do so due to health issues. So please welcome Naruto Touketsu Ki."

In walked a pale, thin and some what weak looking blonde. He wore dark gray pants with black sandals. He had a deep blue t-shirt on that had some basic armor plates on his upper chest. His hair was in a pony tail down to his shoulder blades. He had no visible kunai or shuraken pouches on him. He turned to the class with a bored look and eyed everyone.

"Hello," he said curtly and turned toward the instructor expectantly.

"Take a seat anywhere and we can get started," was the reply to the unanswered question. Naruto slowly walked toward the back of the class and sat with his head on his arms waiting. The day proceeded until lunch when everyone went outside.

Naruto sat by himself under some trees to try and catch some sleep when a shadow loomed above him. Naruto looked up to acknowledge whom ever it was only to find the last Uchiha and his fangirls.

"You're the kid that can use mokuton and you're the last Namikaze aren't you? Fight me and we will see what you can do," Sasuke said confidently.

"I can use mokuton, but I am not a Namikaze. But besides that what are the rules for the fight?"

"Anything goes," was the smug reply.

"Lead the way."

Most of the kids were gathering around to see the fight. Some chunin teachers also wanted to see what the new kid could do and discretely watched. As the opponents got to the sparing ring and faced off Sasuke got into his fighting stance and Ki just stood there. When Sasuke charged to try and put this upstart in his place he found himself surrounded by trees with no opponent in sight. Sasuke decided to try and burn the trees to the ground with a fire ball which failed to more then scorch the bark of the chakra reinforced trees. Suddenly a tree wrapped around him and out of it materialized Naruto with a wooden kunai at Sasuke's throat.

"I win," was his statement before the trees receded and Naruto walked away.

Most people were stunned at the easy victory that he had displayed to the current leader of the class. Many came up to congratulate him on his win but he seemed not to hear any of it and just went to the class room to continue the rest of the day. The rest of the day did not go in his favor though as it was of weapons, stealth, taijutsu and genjutsu practice. He failed most miserably at all of these. He and most other realized that if not for his ninjutsu he would have had no way to win the spar with Sasuke. He would try to rectify his weaknesses but even he knew it would take time.

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AN: He is not over powered. He has one very strong area and that is it. He will try to become more balanced but it will take a while. His stealth is down because he hasn't tried it in five years. He is physically the one of the weakest guys at the academy. Genjutsu, weapons and taijutsu is because he hasn't practiced them or been very exposed to them at all. The reason he spent most of his time during the month controlling his kekkei genkais instead of other areas is no exposure to them and he has an almost unconscious ability with both of them. I will show his aptitude at hyoton latter, he is saving that for a latter.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

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Over the course of the two years that Naruto had been at the academy he had failed to make a friend, not that he minded. He had made acquaintances that he occasionally talked with but nothing more than that. He avoided many people in the class, one being Sasuke.

Sasuke and he did not get along; there was contempt from one to the other in both directions. Sasuke believed himself better then Naruto from the fact he is of the Uchiha clan and Naruto's continued lack of physical skills. Naruto had contempt for him because of his lack respect towards anyone and continued superiority complex despite the fact that Sasuke had failed to land a punch on him in a full on spar.

Naruto still lived in his new home outside the walls of Konoha and still avoided most villagers with a passion. He was rarely seen unless going to and from the academy or buying groceries. Many times Jiraiya of Tsunade had been seen talking to him asking for several things.

Jiraiya wanted to train the boy and get him to sign the Toad summoning contract. Naruto flatly refused, but never said why. Tsunade wanted to study some more on his new chakra network and his kekkei genkias. Again Naruto refused but gave his reason that it was his and Tsunade wouldn't ask the Hyuga to study their eyes. Tsunade continued to press saying that he could save many lives if the understood his chakra better and could recreate it for short periods of time in others. Naruto refused saying that his abilities would not become some cheap jutsu everyone could use.

Villagers and ninja continued to approach him asking for forgiveness or even offers of training. The only one who he even stopped to consider was one ANBU officer who could also use mokuton. He considered the option for five minutes but decided that he would continue on his own but thank the man for his offer.

During this two year time period he realized a few things; one is that he cannot caste genjutsu with his chakra control as it was, although maybe one day; two is that he cannot practice dispelling genjutsu without someone to caste them on him; three is that weapons and tiajutsu take a long time to even be proficient in. For weapons and tiajutsu he had gone to his library to study up on the different types to try and find some that suited his mainly ninjutsu style.

He quickly realized that in his library there was no taijutsu style he felt like fit him, not even the Uzumaki style felt right. While he finally decided to go with aikido because he felt that it was closest to what he wanted his taijutsu to accomplish, although he would look in altering this style with other moves from other styles to better suit his needs.

With weapons he hit a dead end. There were several dozen that he could choose from, even his mother katana, but again none of them suited his need. He needed a weapon that he could easily be relieved from his hand so he could perform hand seals but also be able to defend and kill with. As it was he had nothing on hand that accomplished that and did not feel compelled to design something new or go out looking for this particular weapon. It was secondary to him learning a taijutsu to defend himself in close quarters and learning more ninjutsu and kekkei genkai abilities in his opinion. He chose bojutsu just so that if the need arises he could grow a staff, but he was barely proficient with it.

He was able to increase his stealth and kunai and shuriken abilities to decent levels; his stealth slightly above chunin as it seemed more natural for him after he understood what he needed to do to hide from some fangirls he had acquired, many of the skills tied in with his mokuton abilities. His sealing ability only progressed to the point he could put up privacy and security seals that Hyugas couldn't see through and Aburme couldn't seek their bugs past. This had been tested often; so much so he had to put up a low level barrier that anyone with chakra could walk through but bugs with as little chakra as they possessed could not. He did this and then stopped his studying of seals, for he had no drive to become a master in the art of sealing.

His ninjutsu could surpass many chunin with his speed of hand seals and amount of jutsu known. It was his one passion, he just loved to learn new jutsu or how to lessen the hand seals required for one he already knew. He would try and create ones unique to himself and his kekkei genkai.

His physical appearance had changed somewhat. He was less pale and healthier looking and he had some muscles but many could tell by looking at him that he was not close combat specialist. His clothing had changed to more green and browns to blend in with the forest but he did have a blue and white sash around his waist. He said it was to represent his second ability and left it at that.

Today was the day he had waited for, it was graduation. He would pass his test and then go on to be a genin. If all went according to plan he would have what he wanted in two or three years, at which time he could finally be free.

"Ok class," called Iruka as Mizuki, his assistant, handed out the tests. "Today is the day that we will test and see if you have the ability to become genin of Konoha. We will start with the written test and proceed from there. After the test is handed out you will have one hour to complete it. You may begin!"

Naruto breezed through this portion of the test. The reason he did so well is because he spent a lot of time studying chakra and its uses to further understand his own kekkei genkai and he also spent time looking up his relatives, who just happened to be many of the Hokages. The only person who seemed as at ease with the written test as him was a pink haired girl named Sakura. She was very book smart but lacked in the practical aspects. She always scored the highest on every exam, but Naruto was right behind her in this respect.

During the kunai and shuriken throwing part he used his own grown set to hit with passing accuracy. Then the ninjutsu portion of the test, the part he knew that no one could be better than him at, not that he would show more then to place at first place in this category.

"Ok everybody we will have the final portion of the exam. Your order has been determined randomly and it appears that Kiba Inuzuka is up first," cried Mizuki. "Kiba please perform the _Kawarimi, _ _Bunshin_, _Henge_, and any other jutsu you want for extra credit."

Most of the class failed one of the three jutsu or had not made up enough points to receive their hitai-ite. When it was Naruto's turn most of the class had gone and those that were left watched intently, even the lazy Nara looked up to see his repertoire in this field of study.

Naruto started by creating a _Mizu Bunshin_, _Tsuchi Bunshin _and _Moku Bunshin _. He then had the _Mizu Bunshin_ and _Tsuchi Bunshin __Henge_ into Iruka and Mizuki respectfully; meanwhile his _Moku Bunshin_ preformed a _Mokuton: Henge_ to transform into the Shodia. Naruto then _Kawarimi _with his former seat twice, ending back where he started. He then proceeded to sink into the floor using _Doton: Dochū Eigyo no Jutsu _and appear behind the proctors.

"Is that enough," he siad with his bored tone.

"Hai, take your fore hitai-ite and go sit. Now for the next student please come down and proceed with your demonstration," called Iruka.

With that Naruto sat down and proceeded to go to sleep.

XXX

At around 1:30 a.m. one of Naruto's security seals went off informing him of an intruder. When Naruto went to check he found several ANBU on his property searching for something.

"Why are you on my property," questioned an irate and tired Naruto.

"Mizuki has stolen the forbidden scroll and we were sent to find him," was the reply given from the commander.

"Well he is not here and you are trespassing, if he hides here I would know about it, so leave now or I will force you," was his reply.

"We will as soon as we have searched these premises; we have orders from the Hokage that temporarily allows us to control and search Clan property and lands if need be," was the captains response.

"Fine but hurry it up."

XXX

They failed to find the traitor or any clue as to where he went after around 1:00 a.m. which was barely two hours after stealing the scroll. They called the immediate search off at 4:00 a.m. but continued longer search patterns.

XXX

Twenty minutes after calling off the immediate search for the traitor and the scroll a full council meeting had been called to explain the situation. Naruto was in attendance at the Hokage's request.

"I have called this meeting to ask for your assistance to help locate the traitor Mizuki and find the forbidden scroll. His last known location was by training ground 25 around 12:30. We discovered this spot with his sent on it at 1:00 a.m. but lost the trail soon after. But he seemed to be headed for Naruto's complex outside the village," explained Sarutobi as everyone looked towards Naruto expectantly.

"ANBU have already searched my property and found nothing at around 1:30 a.m. But after they left another security breach did occur, I believe it was about 3:50 this morning. This was however not ANBU as I thought when checking the source of the disturbance. It turned out to be the traitor," stated Naruto, everyone gasped and started yelling.

"Quiet!" cried the Sandiame. "Now where is he Naruto?"

"He should still be trapped on my property in one of the trees. I was going to report it but I was called here first. I figured to just tell everyone now instead of waiting for it to spread. He was not much of a fight, he barely noticed the trap I set using the trees he was jumping between, then again not everyone can just pull a person into a tree and leave them. I am unsure as to if he had the scroll with him at the time but we can check when your ANBU retrieve him. Now if that is all I would ask to be excused so that I could get my shinobi identification before the line gets too long and then we can retrieve the traitor. He will live probably another four hours with the air he has left so no need to worry," he stated before leaving.

"I am unnerved by how he blatantly shows contempt for us and how he is one of the most uncaring people I have ever met. I mean he could smile or even scowl a little bit," was Tsume's comment.

"Indeed, I also believe he has plans none of us are aware of. Perhaps we should watch him more closely," was Danzo's idea.

"I believe that is wise but we can only have the best and how would we sneak past the seals he has on his house?" asked Sarutobi.

"I have an idea, but I need some information first," was Jiryia's only comment before they all were dismissed by Sarutobi.

XXXXXXX

AN: Should Naruto have the scroll or should he not? I will take your suggestions into consideration but this event will not greatly impact the next few chapters either way but after that; you never know.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

XXXXX

The Hokage was not having a pleasant day. First his paperwork was piling up and next he had many jonin trying to claim either Sasuke or Naruto for their genin squads. He sighed at the lack of dignity some of these shinobi displayed. Most were arguing like children.

"Silence! I have had enough of this discussion. Everyone I have already assigned a team please leave," stated the irate Hokage. After everyone but two had left he looked at both. "Kurenai I will be giving you squad 8, it will be a recon squad. Kakashi you will be given squad 7, it will be an assault squad. This will not be your only assignment while teaching them though."

"What do you mean Hokage-sama? And you still haven't told us who is on each squad," Kurenai inquired.

"Squad 8 will be Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame, and Naruto Touketsu Ki. Squad 7 will be Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Kiba Inuzuka. Now as to the reasons as to why these are your squads and not some other formation. If I was to just go by their strengths in their respective areas I would have switched the Inuzuka and Naruto. But I believe that that would lead to problems in the team dynamic of squad 7. As is Naruto needs someone to show him that ninjutsu is not always the answer, although I suspect he knows this. Also Naruto does not get along with either the Uchiha or as he stated the 'fangirl' Sakura. Sauske would not be willing to work with Naruto and therefore neither would Sakura, which suits Naruto just fine. Plus I have other motives for this setup," told the Hokage.

"What other reasons? Would they have to do with the fact Naruto lives outside the walls or of his special Clan status?" inquired Kakashi.

"You are somewhat correct, Kakashi. First though we will talk about your squad. The council believes that Sasuke may be a flight risk. If that happens you will need to take him out, obligation to Obito or not." Kakashi visibly flinched at the name. "Secondly I want you to help dissuade Haruno from her more extreme tendencies. She has good control and could make a fine medic or genjutsu specialist; she just needs work and larger reserves. Thirdly I want you to teach Inuzuka to counter the Sharingan, that way if you are not there he can stand a chance against Sasuke if he defects," stated Sarutobi. "I do believe though that squad 7 will work together if pushed. The Inuzuka's drive for dominance and the Uchiha's superiority complex will make them rivals and hopefully that will lead to friendship and a bond that will make Sasuke stay in the village."

"As for squad 8 things are even more complicated. I happen to have witnessed the fact that the Hyuga heiress is fond of Naruto and hope this time together will let it blossom. Naruto is also considered a flight risk from the village and we need him to connect with someone, even if it does not go past friendship. He also recently caught the traitor that was fleeing with the forbidden scroll and while the scroll was recovered it was in his estate for quite a while before being recovered. His isolationist tendencies notwithstanding, Naruto believes there is no one to trust. As a genjutsu specialist you know the mind almost as well as Ibiki or a Yamanaka. I need you to earn his trust or have someone else do it. Also test him on genjutsu, while I know he has large reserves and that would normally preclude him from having the control to do such a thing he is far from normal. Tsunade has informed me that it is because his body had to adapt fairly rapidly to the changes that the extra tenketsu points emerged and with these he should exhibit are far better control over his chakra then otherwise. I also want you to try and gain access to his home along with his other teammates. The council and I believe he is planning something and we would like to know what it is. Get us information on how he blocked the Byakugan and the Aburame kikki bugs so we may counter them and obtain the information we need. One thing to know about him is that he has yet to do any moves his father or mother were known for, in fact as far as we can tell he has not even tried any of their moves. He seems content doing more common moves or messing with his kekkie genkai. The council would like to know more on this especially since he has many techniques scrolls that if we could get him to release could help the village more, but if we ask then that gives him cause to leave, but this does not break the agreement the council agreed to. For all these reasons and more are why you will be teaching him, but you will not be alone. The ANBU called Yamato will be assisting with ninjutsu and tiajutsu and hopefully help control Naruto if need be," explained Sarutobi.

"Control Naruto? What do you mean?" asked Kurenai.

"Just that since they use similar jutsu that with his experience he should be able to subdue him," replied the Hokage.

"Will you both accept these additional tasks I have asked of you?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama," was the reply of both before they left to prepare for meeting their teams tomorrow.

XXXX

"Ok how about I introduce myself and then everyone else can as well, then we can move from there," was Kurenai's statement as her new team sat on the bench in front of her and Yamato. "I am Yuuhi Kurenai and I am a genjutsu specialist, although I have talent in other areas, and have a passion for creating new ones. I hope to eventually settle down and have a family. I hope to see you all reach your goals in life and advance in rank."

"Ok, you can call me Yamato and I am a ninjutsu and taijutsu specialist with some talent in trap making. I hope to see the village prosper and for you three succeed in your endeavors," Yamato said calmly.

"I am Shino Aburme; I am skilled in my clan kikaichu jutsu and am proficient in taijutsu. I like to watch insects in their natural habitat. I wish to become jonin and a strong clan head for the future."

"I, uh, am Hinata Huyga and, um, I am proficient in my clan style taijutsu and not much else. I wish to …help lead my clan forward and get rid of… unwanted traditions."

"I am Naruto Touketsu Ki. I rely mainly on my ninjutsu and kekkei genkai abilities. I am weak to genjutsu from lack of practice in either creating or dispelling. I am proficient in taijutsu although I have yet to find a decent style for me yet and I know some of bojutsu, but again it does not suit me. My hopes and dreams are my own and you may find them out later."

"Well now that we know a little of each other why don't we begin the exam?" inquired Kurenai.

"This would be the exam to see if we have teamwork and skills to be real genin, correct?" asked Shino.

"True, all you have to do is touch me. I will limit myself to sitting on the stump in the clearing north of here. I will only cast genjutsu B-rank and below. But Yamato here will be guarding me as well. Begin in ten minutes, you have until noon which is two hours away," and with that both Kurenai and Yamato poofed away.

"How should we go about this exam? We have to face two jounin level opponents," inquired Shino.

"Genjutsu will not be a problem for you two as the Byakugan will see through any illusions that deprive you of sight and your bugs can get you through most illusions as well. Seeing as that is the case when we travel there you will have to identify where the target is. I will do my best to hold off Yamato. As soon as you have completed finding and touching her we will switch, is that acceptable?" explained Naruto.

"Do you believe you can …hold him off?" asked Hinata.

"If he is who I believe he is then I have an excellent chance," was her reply. "Just make sure to watch for traps and accomplish your goal fast."

"Hai."

"Let us be on our way then, for the test has started," declared Shino.

XXXX

After clearing some traps and ambushes Yamato had set up with _Moku Bunshin _they finally made it to the clearing. Shino and Hinata immediately dashed to where they notice Kurenai was sitting, despite the genjutsu that was covering her. As they approached a wall of wood shot up in front of them.

"It wouldn't be that easy now would it," claimed Yamato from where he was crouched to their right.

"No it wouldn't," called Naruto as roots started to twist around Yamato.

"Oh, so that's where you were, I didn't realize you knew this genjutsu," exclaimed Yamato as he tried to break out by stopping his chakra flow. This had the intended consequence of allowing Shino and Hinata to get to Kurenai as the wall of wood crumbled.

"This is a ninjutsu, not genjutsu," whispered Naruto as he popped out of the tree with an ice kunai. Naruto then went and touched Kurenai to confirm his passing the test.

"Oh so it is, damn, didn't recognize it fast enough. That is pretty smart of you to copy a genjutsu but make it a ninjutsu. When did you create it," asked Yamato.

"It was the first one I made. I did it after reading a scroll that showed how to perform the tree binding death genjutsu. I knew I had no way to practice that or that I had the control for it yet so I decided to make my own variation. I figure that whoever knows the genjutsu will believe it is that and will try to dispel it and not counter it like one would a ninjutsu. But when did you get out of ANBU?"

"Just a little while ago, i knew you would recognize me though," was his reply.

"What was that kunai you produced, I thought you could only make wood," questioned Shino.

"I can do both wood and ice. I didn't use ice at the academy because I did not want to expose all my abilities. Plus I prefer using wood simply because Konoha has more information on that ability then on my ice forming one."

"I see, well what shall we do now Kurenai-sensei?" asked Shino.

"We are done for today. Be back tomorrow at nine and we will begin some minor missions to work on team work and by that time Yamato and will come up with a schedule for each of you and the team as a whole," was his reply.

"Hai," Was all she heard as they all went to leave.

"Oh, Hinata might I talk to you for a minute," Kurenai called out to the girl.

"What is it sensei?" was the response from Hinata as the boys all walked off.

"Hinata I know you like Naruto, may I ask why?"

The blushing girl replied "Well he is strong, and I'm not. Also he stood up the council and my father. He has never said anything mean, although he has never said anything especially nice. He just seems like a person who needs a friend."

"Well I'll help you befriend him and if anything happens past that it is up to you, but I'll always be here for you if you need advice or anything else, ok," was Kurenai's response.

"Hai," Hinata said quickly before running home.

XXX

The next two months passed simply. The team continued to do D-rank missions, although the Sandaime was quick to pull them from doing gardening or cat chasing after the first few time. The cat was subject to Naruto's proclaimed _Mokuton: naimenteki ki roujou(inner tree confinement?)_ which was his version of _Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu _which he was also quit good at. To say the cat was traumatized would be an understatement. The cat wouldn't go near a tree for months on end. The gardening problem was simple; Naruto, if he put his mind to it, could correctly pick out all the weeds in less time the any other team. He would simply have all the weeds be subjected to the _Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu _via a wooden tendril from underneath. Both of these negated the team work aspect of these missions.

Over the two months the team had been learning chakra control along with low level genjutsu and some more on taijutsu from both their sensei. No one complained about any of the missions they were assigned and all the students were practicing outside their team meetings. All three had been given some weights to increase their speed and muscle mass. Naruto had returned the weights the next day stating a lack of need for them. When asked why he stated he had applied a seal that did the same thing. When asked how he came about this he simply said he found it in a book of seals he had.

The team had bonded somewhat. Naruto was not likely to proclaim his undying support for the others on the team but he was becoming more open towards them. Hinata was not as shy around the team and had on several occasions tried to ask Naruto out. All failed as she was still not **that** comfortable around him. Shino spoke slightly more often than this side of nothing and seemed pleased with the team.

Overall Kurenai and Yamato believed that the team was strong and more level headed then most. Their team had practical mindsets and seemed to at least exude a sense of professionalism if not outright friendship towards each other. Kurenai had voiced that Naruto was most likely not going to invite them over anytime soon but would at the same time probably not leave. Sarutobi was happy with the progress of squad 8 and decided to give them something special.

"Squad 8, I have decided to give you a C-ranked mission."

XXX

AN: Will it be land of waves or not…who knows.

Will Hinata ask him out and will he say yes…who knows.

Just what is Naruto planning and does he have a copy of the forbidden scroll…who knows.

Why am I doing this to all my readers…who knows, because I don't.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

XXXX

Squad 8 was set on their first C-rank mission. The mission was fairly simple, go to the client's house and retrieve an item stolen by some bandits. The client's house was about three days away on foot. Yamato had come along as a precaution as the client's home was only two day's run from the _Kaminari no Kuni_ boarder and Kumo may try something with any of the three genin.

The first day of walking was nearing the end. Kurenai asked that Hinata set up the tents while Naruto retrieved wood for a fire and Shino get water from a stream. Yamato was meanwhile setting up the security for the camp.

"You know, it was really quiet today, I figured you guys would be excited for your first C-rank," said Kurenai as they sat down next to the fire with their dinner.

"I am sorry but I figured with how our team was you would be use to no noise. We are a designated tracking team and they are not supposed to be spotted. That fact, along with our personalities would lead me to believe you would expect nothing less then silence," stated Shino.

"Yes, but for three green genin to not even talk during eight hours of walking and a one hour lunch break is unusual," stated Yamato.

"And what should we talk about sensei?" asked Naruto.

"Well how about we start with you Naruto. While this team works together and you have opened up you still have not shared much about yourself," Kurenai said.

"I may open up, but only when I can trust everyone," was the response.

"Oh, but this is a team and who would you not trust?" asked Yamato. The other genin giving barely perceived indications of their heightening interest in this conversation.

"Why the whole team?"

"And why would you not trust this team?" asked Kurenai, worried for the most anti-social of the group.

"You will not like what you hear and I doubt that this is the time or place for this discussion. If after this mission is over and you still want to know then I will tell you freely."

"I am sorry Naruto but if you don't trust us with your reasons then how can we trust you. And if we can't trust you then this mission is a failure and we will turn around," stated Yamato, who wanted to get to the bottom of the confusion that was Naruto.

"If you would force my hand like this it shows that at least some of my assumptions were correct," said Naruto.

"And what assumptions are these," asked Shino?

"I guess I will tell you so as not to fail this mission. As you all know I am a former jinchuriki. I housed the Kyuubi inside my body until I was about 10. My first years were rough. I don't remember much other than glares, hunger and neglect. I actually would've died if the Kyuubi had not supplied me with energy to keep going. About my fifth birthday, while looking for food, a pack of rabid dogs attacked me. I was scared for my life. Then, after being attacked for a minute or so the seal that kept the Kyuubi in me activated. It seems that an undeveloped array in the seal activated to protect me. This array was meant to heal me and give me energy to get out of danger. It did this by forcibly drawing upon the Kyuubi's chakra and converting it into a mix of healing and human chakra. This had the unintended consequence of activating my bloodlines and forming them into one. I was in a coma for five years adjusting to what happened to me. I was aware the entire time. I knew what they were doing to me and what they were planning for me. I even found out that the one person I trusted above all else had lied to me and actually refused to allow me to be adopted because of who I was. I happened to be the son of the 'Yondaime', the man who sealed the demon in me in the first place. I learned that one of the Sannin was suppose to be there at my birth to make sure everything was fine but was instead in a bar somewhere getting drunk. I learned another Sannin was suppose to be my 'godfather' but had abandoned me to write perverted books. I learned that my 'father's' last student couldn't get over his loss to help me in anyway. I even learned that my 'mother' had known what my 'father' planned and didn't try to stop him and then died on me," he was yelling at them by now and saying the words 'father' and 'mother' with spite. It scared the other genin because they had never seen him this emotional ever. Kurenai looked down trying to understand what he was feeling. Yamato sat there and took in all this information and wondered where it was leading it the conversation.

After Naruto calmed down for a moment he continued, "I talked with Kyuubi during my time in a coma. Oh how he hated me and even worse my 'father'. The Kyuubi quickly gave up on torturing me and decided to help me. He decided that since he couldn't fight the seal he would embrace it and would help me understand and adjust to all the power and knowledge I was to gain. That is why when I woke up I could immediately use some of my more basic powers. I really don't need many hand seals for most of my kekkei genkai ninjutsu because of the Kyuubi's teachings. So when I woke up I knew what the council wanted of me and I knew I did not want that. So I played them like the Kyuubi told me too. I bought time to study up on the one area I would need to fight them, the law. I made sure that I got my way in that council meeting. I tied myself to the rotten cease pool calling itself Konoha but I did it to ensure that my family wouldn't. I knew they would never let me leave; they would kill me before allowing me to run off to one of their enemies. I had originally thought I should go to Iwa, just to piss on the council and my 'father' at the same time. But I knew that wouldn't happen, so I ensured that while I may have to be loyal and stay, when I am powerful enough to protect them from Konoha, my family can leave."

"What does this have to do with your not trusting your teammates?" asked a disturbed Hinata.

"Everything. Because of the power I and any of my children can wield the council wants to keep me loyal, just like how they lavish the Uchiha to keep him in the village. Since I have distanced myself from Konoha by living outside their walls and have refused several marriage contracts from every clan in Konoha, including the Hyuga, they feel I am a flight risk. While I am suited for recon, I am more heavily suited for assault. Looking at skills and proficiency I should have been with Sasuke and Haruno. I would have been long to mid-range support with the Uchiha taking up close and mid-range combat and Haruno assisting with genjutsu and medical jutsu. The fact that I am not shows that they don't trust me not to run off when the Uchiha runs or kill him myself. This being said they chose my other area of skill and assigned me to the spot the Inuzuka would have taken. I was placed with you two for several reasons I believe. One is that they want me to allow you past my security into my home and for you to gather data on how to get in and where to find documents detailing any research into jutsu or even jutsu themselves. As Kurenai-sensei said to me earlier, some of my jutsu would help Konoha greatly, if only they were not held in a clan archive. I believe Kurenai-sensei was assigned because my weakness, along with many other people in Konoha, is genjutsu. They wanted her so that even if I learn the art and am proficient at it, she would know my limit in it and as such be able to take me down easier. Yamato-sensei is here to add potency to her attacks and to help subdue me. With his kekkie genkai for wood manipulation being the same as mine, albeit not in terms of raw power, his experience and skill in it out shines my own as of right now. Seeing as he also has very high skill at close-combat, my other weak point, these two sensei make the perfect team to take out a powerful genin," he finished looking around seeing his other team members looking slightly awed and frightened about what he just revealed. Kurenai seemed to look slightly ashamed for her own reasons and Yamato sat passively as he could across from Naruto, although you could tell he was impressed with Naruto's deductive skills.

"And you reasoned this out how?" Yamato finally said.

"Deduction was one of the many skills Kyuubi passed on to me. He drilled it into my head, and then having his millennia of experience in the field added to that made this an easy read."

"How do we go about earning your trust then," asked Kurenai.

"Several ways; first you," pointing at Kurenai, " can try and stop setting Hinata and myself up. I am not what Hinata needs…" he started to say.

"W-what do y-o-u mean?" asked Hinata.

"You need a person with patience, strength, kindness and a good attitude. I have none of those except strength and that is not the kind of strength you need. I will try and be supportive and a good team mate but I am at this time not the person you need. You need confidence in yourself and then all the other areas you are lacking in will become some of your most powerful tools. With your juken you only lack the will to hurt others; you get past that and you can only succeed where once you failed. But again I cannot be the one to help you, because I still need to help myself in the area of emotional support. Maybe in a few years, but at this point a relationship besides teammates and perhaps friends would only cause much more pain later on then I and probably you can go through."

While his words hurt Hinata realized that he was correct on most of the points. She realized that right now he could not help her and she could not help him. She knew that at this point they were incompatible, but the future may hold hope for a possibly closer relationship.

"Secondly; Yamato-sensei, while I like you personally and as an instructor, you need to know that I will never invite you or any of the team onto my property. The only ones who will are ANBU, when they have a written order from the Hokage, and my family. Just know that. Lastly; Shino, you must stop trying to track me, unless I need to have an insect on me for the mission, I want them off, ok," Naruto stated carrying on where he left off. When he was done he got up and went to his tent to sleep.

"Well, that was unexpected. I never knew that much about him, I must sleep on this," was all Shino stated before he also went to go sleep.

"He was right. I just hope eventually we can be together or I find someone like he described. I am feeling a little tired so I will go to bed now, goodnight Kurenai-sensei, Yamato-sensei," called Hinata as she went to bed.

"Well he just read us like a book. I feel bad now," stated Kurenai.

"Why do you feel bad? While all he said was true, he never gave us anything to waylay the fear of him leaving or worse going on a killing spree. He knows all about us and we know so little about him. He can read us and the way we think which makes him dangerous. We have nothing to counter his insights with. Even with all that he said we know nothing more about him except he and Kyuubi were on good terms; but what would you say to a nine-tailed fox that nearly destroyed the village to get on his good side?" asked Yamato.

"What are you thinking?" asked Kurenai.

"I think that he has a plan to destroy Konoha. You noticed that he stated that he wanted power to protect his family from Konoha. But if his family leaves and he has to still serve Konoha then how does he protect them, hmmm?"

"You think he would destroy us to protect some non-existent family of his?" asked an appalled Kurenai.

"I don't know, just be careful," was the last thing he did before going to bed, leaving Kurenai with first watch.

"What are you planning Naruto?" was her question of the night.

XXX

AN: What do you think?

Will he destroy the village?

Will he eventually get with Hinata?

Will I ever reveal any details on his plans?

Probably not on the last one.

I want your opinions and I want ideas. I have the story planned out, but it is only an outline.

A good enough idea and I will acknowledge you and use in the story.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

XXXXX

The next few days on their way to the client's house passed quietly and smoothly. There were no more outburst and no more questions regarding Naruto or the secrets he chose to keep. Naruto felt a little embarrassed and guilty for what he had said but had decided it was for the best and kept to himself. Hinata and Shino were both thinking on what Naruto said and how they might help him with his problems. Kurenai was thinking about how to help him but also ensure his loyalty when the time came and it was to be tested. Yamato was thinking of what he knew about Naruto and what he needed to find out.

"Well, it looks like we are almost there," Kurenai said after spotting the small village ahead.

When they arrived at the client's home they knocked and waited. Not a moment later did a man who was obviously a servant step out to usher them into his master's study.

"Well, it looks like the shinobi I hired are finally here. What do you need of me to help in retrieving my property," asked a portly man dressed in finery.

"We need to know what we are looking for, who the bandits are if you know, and the last sighting of them Mister Rippa Shibou," was Yamato's formal reply.

"Well I don't know who they are but they stole a painting and several scrolls from my library," the client said leading them to his rather large library in the process. "The scrolls detailed several royal lines, I am the genealogist for many families in and around Hi no Kuni. The painting was one of the Daimyo's grandmother. She was a very beautiful lady in her day. Hailed from Uzu no Kuni, if I remember correctly. Anyway the last time I spotted them they were headed north. I did receive this note, supposedly from the thieves, to pay a good deal of money for my property being returned. This was after I sent the request for assistance, sorry."

"It is ok, we will try and track them from here and if that fails we will go to the meeting place to secure the items," replied Kurenai.

"That sounds splendid. Now why don't you start unless you need some rest first," the man stated.

"We do not need to rest, we will begin the search now," was Yamato's reply.

XXX

Several hours of searching had turned up little in the way of bandits. They had run across some very anger animals and some small farmers as well. No one they questioned was able to give them directions towards the supposed bandit hideout.

"Team, I believe we will have to ambush them at the meeting point," stated Yamato.

"Since it will be an ambush we will work on setting traps and ambush tactics for the next few days. Also, please realize that because it would be nearly impossible to just steal the items back at this time and we will be in confrontation with these bandits there is the possibility of having your first kill while on this mission. Just know that Yamato and I will help you through it, ok," said Kurenai.

All three genin gave slightly hesitant nods. They knew that killing was part of being shinobi but thought they could put that off for a while.

"Ok, seeing as it is late today we will begin tomorrow," said Yamato.

XXX

The next few days went by fast as they discussed tactics, planned ambushes, practiced everything and did team maneuvers. The day had finally come for the meeting.

The client with his bag of money slowly made his way into the clearing. To his right and back a ways in the trees was Shino and Yamato for one prong. To the client's left and back were Naruto and Hinata for the second prong. Directly in back of the client was Kurenai for long range genjutsu. They had made it so that there was at least one long and one close range specialist on each wing, this making it easier to be adaptable to any surprise changes.

Coming out of the other side of the clearing, next to a small stream, was a man that walked toward the client. This man had a large grey cloak on him and a wide brimmed reed woven hat.

"Hand over the money and I shall hand over your stolen goods," yelled the man when he was twenty feet from the client.

"May I see the items first, so as to verify their authenticity," asked the client?

"Yes, come closer and I shall show them to you," cried the thief as he withdrew a scroll and unsealed objects that looked like the goods.

The client went over and verified everything was in order and handed the money over before grapping the stolen goods and walking away. The client wasn't ten feet from the mystery guest when a kunai was imbedded into his skull.

"Come on out shinobi, I want some fun," called the man.

Kurenai walked forward and presented herself on the other side of the clearing while the remainder of her squad tried to stay hidden.

"So, why don't you hand over that money and we can all leave peacefully," stated Kurenai, noting the wooden duplicate of the client sinking into the ground.

"Now why would I do that? I want to play; I hope your friends are entertaining."

"Just who are you," asked Kurenai?

"That would be telling, how about this, if you can force me to my knees, I'll tell you," replied the man.

Kurenai had started casting a subtle genjutsu the moment she had left the trees. The illusion was meant to hinder the person's depth perception and speed at recognizing visual signals. So when Kurenai rushed the man hoping to end it quickly she was utterly shocked to find he seemed unhindered by this illusion.

"Oh, did you expect that little mind game to help you. It doesn't because you attacked the wrong senses," the man said as he lifted his face to Kurenai to show that he had no eyes. The man quickly capitalized on her shock and attacked with taijutsu worthy of a master.

Yamato seeing as she was being overwhelmed quickly told Shino to attack with his insects and went to help Kurenai out. Hinata and Naruto also acted to try and help their sensei. A wooden barrier seemed to block a kick from connecting with Kurenai. She used the opportunity to disengage.

"Oh, seems like there are wood users still alive. I've been misinformed. Well since all your friends are out here it is time to pull out all my tricks," as he said that he threw off his cloak to reveal Iwa black ops gear and a slashed hait-tie on his belt. Off his belt he pulled a double headed ax with a chain on it and began swinging it by the chain all around his body.

"Let us see if you can beat me; the only one who did was the one who took my eyes, your _Kiiroi Senkō_ if I remember," yelled the man as he approached in his deadly dance with the ax.

"Stay back everyone," cried Yamato. "Only offer ranged support."

Everyone backed away from the seemingly manic ax wielder. Yamato grew a wooden sword and began his attack. At every turn his sword would meet chain as he swung. This slowed the sword to give the thief time to dodge and counter-attack. Yamato was getting shallow cuts while the man was still just moving the ax back and forth.

"Kurenai-sensei, do you believe this guy, it's like he hears the attack coming or something," said Naruto.

"That is exactly what I believe he is doing. I'll try to disrupt that sense, but no guarantees with a man of this skill."

"Do you know who he is," asked Shino?

"I think it is B-rank missing-nin Crazy Ax Shi. He fought against us in the Third Shinobi war and lost his eyes, if he still had those he would probably be A or S-ranked. He went on a spree when they told him he wouldn't be a shinobi again. Seems like he has compensated for his lack of sight," Kurenai said as she wove the illusion, though the effect it had was negligible.

Shino was sending out swarms of insects, trying to suck as much charka as possible against this man. Hinata was watching, every now and again throwing kunai to distract Shi. Naruto was planning on sending a clone to use _Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu on _this person if possible.

While fighting Yamato, Shi suddenly jumps back to avoid the Naruto clone that came out of the earth where he just stood.

"Good job kid, you almost got me. Too bad I'm a master of earth jutsu and can feel them coming at me a mile away," Shi stated.

Naruto was frustrated at this Shi character easily avoiding his team. He let that anger get to him and decided on unleashing an unrefined jutsu upon him.

"Well how about you dodge this," Naruto stated as he was finishing a long series of hand seals while jumping in front of Yamato.

"_Hyōton: koori no engeki no jimen_ (ice play ground)."

The area in front of the blonde started rapidly freezing as it spread towards Shi. Large walls of ice started to form around a large area of the meadow, trying to encompass Shi as he dodged and wove around ice spears shooting up from the now frozen ground. A large dome formed over Naruto and Shi.

"Now what are you going to do," was all Shi said.

"Koware me (Break)." The dome fragmented and rained shards of sharp ice upon Shi. Shi formed a barrier of earth to protect himself from the onslaught of ice.

When everyone else saw what happened on the inside of the dome they stood still until Naruto collapsed. When Kurenai and Hinata Reached him to pull him back to safety they found that he himself was impaled by several ice shards. As they pulled him away and removed the shards of ice his wounds began to heal very rapidly. He sat up groggily and looked around.

"Did I get him?"

Right then the earth dome moved from where it supposedly protected Shi.

"Son of a bitch, that hurt!" he cried. He looked like he had been run through a shredder. "The only person to do anything like this to me was that fucker Namikaze," he said with all the sarcasm he could.

"Well his son is the one that tore you up," replied Yamato.

"Heheheheh, ohoooh; oh, that is funny, injured by the father, killed by the son. Kid, take my bounty and whatever is on my body. You deserve it all for what you pulled. They call me crazy and you collapse an ice dome on top of me and yourself, heehee," and Shi died from blood lose, laughing as he went.

"That was unexpected," stated Kurenai before looking at Naruto who was pale and unconscious.

"He is either out because of blood lose or because of his first kill," stated Yamato. He went over to seal up the dead body and collect the items they came to retrieve before heading back with Kurenai carrying Naruto.

XXX

Naruto awoke to see two very irate sensei.

"Oh, how long was I out?"

"You were out one day almost," replied Kurenai. "Now what made you use that jutsu? Without you healing chakra you would most certainly be dead from blood lose. Plus that jutsu had huge chakra consumption; you almost went through your entire reserves with one jutsu!"

"Um, I was trying to end the fight quickly and ensure that everyone remained as unharmed as possible. I knew of the downside and figured I could heal from it. The jutsu is meant for use against more person and is incomplete."

"Yes, well until you complete it and that means without harming yourself, I want you to only use that jutsu if either one of us tell you to use it. It was highly dangerous because of injury and chakra use," said Yamato.

"Yeah that is not its intended use though; it is just a byproduct of what happens when I run a huge amount of chakra through the peak of the dome all at once," claimed Naruto.

"What is it suppose to do then," asked Kurenai?

"That is for me to know and you to figure out later," said Naruto.

"Fine, as long as you realize the danger that you caused yourself," said Kurenai.

"So what happened to Shi, I passed out after I saw him all bloody."

"He died because of the injuries he sustained. He left you everything on him and his bounty," said Yamato throwing a scroll to Naruto containing the body.

Naruto looked blankly at the scroll and then at his two sensei. He just couldn't put it together. He had caused this man's death and that man had given everything to him. He then asked to be alone and both instructors complied, although they did offer him their support.

XXXX

Team 8 had just arrived back in Konoha. They had made their report and the Hokage was indeed impressed at who they had run into and how the team preformed. The Hokage was worried at how Naruto was handling his first kill, despite no outward change in his cold attitude directed at him, and discretely instructed the two jonin to return after the genin left. Naruto had brought out a scroll and handed it to the Hokage telling him to have the bounty given to the orphanage in Shi's name. When asked why he just said it would help them more than him, plus he did not want to be praised for a failed jutsu that nearly killed him.

After the two jonin had dismissed the genin they came back into the Hokage's office.

"Well, how do you think he is handling it?"

"To tell the truth, I have no idea," replied Kurenai.

"Yes, he seems more distant now. On the mission he had seemed to at least be less hostile towards everyone, despite what he claims," said Yamato.

"What do you mean." Asked the Hokage?

Both jonin described Naruto's outburst in camp the one night and then how he was slowly opening up to them. They said Naruto even seemed to be joking with them after he woke up from the fight until informed that Shi had died by his hand.

"Why do you believe he gave the bounty on Shi away," asked the Hokage?

"I believe he was feeling guilty and did not want the money because of how he obtained it. I think he may still feel that people will associate him with the demon if he is a killer and by giving his reward away he may hope to waylay those fears, both internally and externally," said Kurenai.

"Do you believe he will become more open again, or has he closed himself off completely?"

"He will never close himself off completely because somewhere in his mind is a little five year old child wanting acknowledgement and wanting company. It will take longer for him to open up and it may take someone new to accomplish it," stated Yamato.

"Very well; so did he give me everything of Shi's or only his head?"

"I believe just the head. I believe he will keep the rest and bury the body on his estate, a funeral of sorts for the man," said Kurenai.

"Ok, keep me updated."

XXXX

"Hokage-sama, I would like to buy a mission," Naruto said as he stood in front of his onetime grandfather figure.

"Oh and what type of mission would this be," questioned the aged Hokage from across the desk.

"An escort mission, I would like my team to escort me to a place near Nami no Kuni. We would still be in Hi no Kuni but it would be on the sea," was the reply.

"And why would you need this mission?"

"In the belongings of Shi I found a note about his hideout. It was in the region and I if I could find it there may be some very intriguing finds," Naruto stated coldly.

"Well that would be a B-rank mission because of the danger going into a hideout of a missing-nin that could have traps and other missing-nin. Plus I couldn't afford to lose so many shinobi on what could be a fool's errand."

"I would be willing to hand over all ninjutsu scrolls and half of all money acquired, along with mission pay," Naruto continued, not even acknowledging Sarutobi.

"Fine, I'll agree to it if I can assign a trap specialist to your team?"

"Agreed, I would like to leave immediately, if at all possible."

"Be here in two hours to meet everyone. You will also be back up to Kakashi's squad if he needs the help; they are headed toward Nami no Kuni right now, so you may be delayed in reaching this hideout."

"Fine," Naruto said as he left.

'Wonder what he thinks he'll find there,' thought Sarutobi.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

XXXXX

Naruto wanted to leave. He wanted to get to the hideout and find what he was looking for. He couldn't though. Why, because he had to wait for a chunin that could, along with Yamto and Kurenai, make sure to detect traps and remove them as needed. When his two watchers and the chunin showed up, they brought along his teammates. He liked his teammates well enough. Shino was quiet and efficient in all matters of being a shinobi. Hinata had great potential. These two could be his friends eventually, but he didn't trust them right now, he couldn't with the council and Hokage like they were. The chunin was an average looking shinobi. He had short brown hair and brown eyes. He was average height and looked physically fit, but not a taijutsu specialist by any means.

"Hello Naruto, anxious to be off I see. Well meet our temporary teammate, Torappu," Yamato said, indicating the chunin.

"Hello, thank you for assisting us, we should be off now," was all Naruto said before turning towards the gate to leave.

"Yes, we should leave now, since Naruto is the client," sighed Kurenai.

They had been traveling in silence for a few hours and everyone seemed to prefer it that way. Yamato thought back on what the Hokage had warned him about.

XXFlashbackXX

"Yamato, this mission was called for by Naruto. While he gave us enough money for the mission and he offered all ninjutsu scrolls and half of all the money found, I believe he will try and trick us, maybe even have lied to us. With a mission that he has information on and where he is the one leading it would be the best possible time for him to try and run off or fake his death," said Sarutobi.

"I understand. I will watch him more carefully. Why do you want us to back up Kakashi though, he only has a C-rank. While ours was above C-rank, that was from lack of knowledge on the thief," said Yamato.

"I believe the client lied to us about the mission. I sent Kakashi hoping that he would scare off most adversaries. Now you need to meet your team," replied Sarutobi.

"Hai, I'll be back as soon as possible."

XXEnd FlashbackXX

"We should be hitting the path marker soon," Naruto spoke up. Everyone slowed down. "It should be a tree that was struck by lightning; there will be a kunai inside."

Everyone started scanning for the way marker. It took them ten minutes to find said tree. Shino was going up towards the tree when Naruto stopped him.

"All we need to know is which direction the kunai is pointing in. I believe there is a trap on the log and kunai itself. Shi did not need this marker or path himself," said Naruto.

"Naruto is right on the trap end, Kurenai can you lift the genjutsu on the right side of the log," asked Torappu.

Kurenai did as asked and a small pit with stakes at the bottom was shown. Torappu slowly approached the trap and looked at the stakes. He then looked at the setup of the entire trap and indicated that he was coming back.

"Ok, that was the only trap, but it was poisoned and well maintained. It also had several ways to trigger. The log shifting would have shot the spikes out, or you could fall on them, or the log would collapse in such a way so that you jump on to them. Very sneaky for a simple design," lectured Torappu to the genin present; the jonin were also surprised by his knowledge of the trap by simply taking a quick look at it.

"Which way was the kunai pointed," asked Naruto.

"Directly east," replied Torappu.

"Head that way for two kilometers and then look for a cave. The cave is the entrance to the hideout. Watch for traps as we walk. His note stated that there are many," said Naruto.

Torappu lead the way to the cave. He would stop every now and again to check something out. There were several false alarms, but the amount of kunai, shiriken, explosive notes and pit falls found made everyone appreciate the chunin's caution and Naruto was glad the Hokage had made the chunin's addition to the team a priority. It took them four painfully slow hours to travel the two kilometers. As Torappu stated earlier "You don't rush when you are in a trap field and aren't being pursued. Only idiots run when you can walk and be cautious."

"There is the cave, any traps you can see from here," Kurenai asked the chunin.

"None, but I'm going in for a closer look," said Torappu.

No one seemed to breathe as the trap specialist got to the cave opening. After about two minutes of searching the man came back and waved them forward.

"There is a large metal door at a narrow point in the cave, it is approximately twenty feet past the curve," Torappu said while pointing to the turn it the cavern.

"The door is to be expected, when we get there please remain silent while I follow the instructions on his note," said Naruto.

Everyone nodded and proceeded in towards the metal door that was slightly larger than a house door but looked much thicker. Naruto proceeded with a series of knocks in a very intricate pattern. Then a reply knock came, much to the group's surprise, setting them on edge until Naruto waved them off. The door slowly opened to reveal a tall woman in her late twenties, early thirties who was clearly pregnant but also showed some well maintained arm muscles. It was evident that she had been crying for a while now a she looked a bit haggard.

"Aw, who was the one Shi-kun left his letter to," asked the woman.

"I was, I would like to discuss some of the things on the letter, if we can," Naruto stated.

"Oh, yes, please come in. I am Me-Ka, my children are taking a nap right now, so we can talk for about an hour before they awaken," the woman name Me-Ka said as she led them into a very nice house made of wood with laterns everywhere.

"That sounds lovely, can we also get everything packed up in that time?" asked Naruto.

"Sure, you have scrolls for that, correct," said Me-Ka.

"Yes, my sensei's brought them," indicating Kurenai and Yamato. Both of who were looking at Naruto with looks stating the need to talk. "Could one of you please start loading up everything here while one of you accompanies Me-Ka and me to another room to discuss certain subjects?"

Yamato led everyone else to some of the storage rooms Me-Ka indicated while Kurenai grilled Naruto about what he was doing.

"What the hell is this, you bring us out here to meet a woman?" Kurenai nearly yelled at Naruto who looked uninterested.

"She is or was Shi's wife, in his letter he asked whoever he gave it to, namely me, to take care of and protect her and the children. I decided to comply with that request. Plus what are you complaining about, I have paid for the mission and will comply to the letter of the agreement I made with the Hokage," said Naruto.

"What do you plan to do, we can't just accept them into the village," stated Kurenai.

"The village will have to accept them when I adopt them into my clan as retainers. The council and Hokage can do nothing about it, that is why I needed you or Yamato to follow Me-Ka and me, you will be a witness to her signing," stated Naruto bluntly as Me-Ka was coming over.

"Well they should be at that for a while, perhaps we should meet in my study to talk," Me-Ka said.

"That would be lovely," stated Naruto who was followed by Kurenai.

As Me-Ka led them down the hall to her study Kurenai was not sure how to explain how this happened to the Hokage. She had been so blind-sided by the turn of events that she didn't know to be angry at Naruto for hiding the mission purpose or happy that he was willing to go to such lengths to help this woman out. Naruto was meanwhile thinking on how to best explain the situation to Me-Ka and what he needed from her. Me-Ka led them to sit down in her study full of scrolls and a table with several sets of chairs.

"Before we begin, can you tell me how Shi-kun died?"

Naruto then explained the short battle and tried to not feel depressed. Me-Ka grew teary eyed but held it in for the most part. When Me-Ka asked what he did with the bounty she nearly hugged Naruto as he explained what he did.

"So, what are you offering and under what conditions?" Me-Ka began, still a little emotional.

"I am offering to adopt you and anyone else here into my clan as retainers; although they can keep their own family names if they choose. As a retainer you are obligated to help my clan's interests and make the clan as a whole stronger. You would be obligated to this for five years before you can willingly leave; all children have their choice upon becoming an adult; which is 17 if civilian or whenever they become a genin. As retainers they would have access to most the clan library, only a few jutsu and books are not available. There are other rules and such listed in this contract, but I would need you to act as the clan representative on the advising council. Other duties would be small," stated Naruto, sliding a scroll over to Me-Ka and getting a glare from Kurenai at his supposedly forceful terms.

"Kurenai, this is a very standard contract and I am being very lenient to her and the children. Most contracts require fealty for several generations and marriage into the clan. I require none of those; if something happens then it happens, but nothing more," Naruto said towards his sensei, waylaying her fears slightly.

Me-Ka read over the contract and asked a few questions about it and once she agreed with how it was set up she signed followed by Naruto and finally Kurenai.

"So, how many children are there?" Kurenai finally asked.

"Several dozen ranging from 2-12, most of the older ones have some shinobi training; Shi and I adopted and took in as many as possible. We live near Kiri and so we tried to save some from the purges over there; our only biological child is the one I am carrying now. Not all are from Kiri though, some came we found in Kaze no Kuni or here in Hi no Kuni. That was why Shi took job's like the one you found him on; we needed the money to help out the children," Me-Ka said leaving both the genin and the jonin shocked.

"Well we better help everyone get ready to move, otherwise we will be here all day," stated Kurenai finally.

As Kurenai and Naruto met up with the rest of the team and explained the situation Shino looked undisturbed until the number of children was revealed. Hinata thought that Naruto was being very kind with the retainer contract. Torappu laughed at Naruto's bewildered expression when the number was stated again. Yamato almost face palmed at the work they had to do now.

They spent another half hour sealing items into scrolls until they got to one room. Me-Ka was outside the door waiting for them.

"This door leads to my forge and workshop. I wish for you to be extra careful with everything. Also I would ask that some of you go help the children, the older ones have it somewhat organized but need help sealing," Me-Ka said.

The groups separated leaving the jonin and chunin to take care of packing the workshop with Me-Ka and the genin going to help the children pack. It took another half hour to get all the children and finish packing to where they could leave and were making final preparations outside the entrance. Just then a dog ran towards them while holding a scroll.

"Pakkun, Kakashi needed you to deliver this, huh," said Yamato.

"Yes, he was in bad shape, needed some back up. Read the scroll and follow the directions to where he is at," stated the dog before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

Yamato sighed as he finished reading the scroll and handed it to Kurenai. She also sighed and then turned to contemplate the situation. Neither thought that they could head to Nami no Kuni with all the children and a pregnant woman. They also were obligated to help out Kakashi. The jonin's talked it over and decided to split up. With a chunin and the shinobi trained children of that group could make it to Konoha. They and the team could make it to Nami and help out Kakashi and his team.

"Ok, team," Yamato spoke to the genin's and chunin, "we will need to split up. Torappu you will lead Me-Ka and the children to Konoha. The rest of us will go on towards Nami as per request of Kakashi Hatake."

"I do not believe I can allow that," stated Naruto.

"What do you mean?" asked a startled Yamato.

"While I do believe we cannot take the group to Nami, I believe Kurenai should accompany the group home. It will ensure beyond reason that they will make it through and still allow us to be at fighting strength in Nami. Plus she will need to explain to the council the events here; otherwise I could have my retainers stolen away," Naruto said

"Fine, since you did pay for the mission; though your concern is unwarranted. We will leave in one hour," said Yamato.

Naruto was not having anyone kidnapped because of their bloodline or any other reason; to ensure that he handed Me-Ka some seals and explained the security system of his house. He told her to have the children in the house before seeing the council. He said that they would be safe in the house, if not on the property. With that he left them to head out for Nami.

XXXX

AN: What do you think?

Please review and fill out my poll.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

AN: Part 1 of this chapter is about the group that went to Konoha.

Part 2 is of the group that went to Nami; up until bridge fight.

Part 1 is partially so people get off my back about Naruto's agreement about the mission payment.

Part I and II end at approximately same time.

XXXXX

Me-Ka was having a hard day. First she had been walking for several days while pregnant. Second she had to fight and explain to her escorts that Naruto had told her to drop the children off at the compound before seeing the Hokage. Finally she was currently standing in front of a legend in of the shinobi world with her escorts trying to explain her orders she had to follow and why she was even there. When Naruto got back from his mission he was going to hear about it from a very irate and pregnant Me-Ka. Her only consolation was she knew she was going to cause the Hokage a headache.

"So, Naruto has taken you and your children in as retainers. I will have to call the council and inform them of this development and I wish for you to be there. Besides that I am happy to welcome you to Konoha. I must ask if you will become a shinobi yourself," said Sarutobi as he contemplated the headache Naruto was constantly making for him.

"I may become a shinobi; if I do it will be after the birth of my child. I am to also inform you that since Naruto-sama now has other people in the clan then just himself he has chosen a clan representative, namely myself. I hope this will not cause undue problems for yourself or the council," stated Me-Ka, smirking a little at the Hokage's horrified look when she mentioned her new position.

Sarutobi wanted to smash his head into his desk with the amount of problems this little development would have. The council had been pleased that Naruto could not vote or even be present for most of the discussions. Now that he was trying to get a representative to take his seat they would be in an uproar. He was impressed though that Naruto had solved one of his glaring problems in the political realm, which is that he technically had no voting power.

"I will call the council for tomorrow, this will allow you to rest and for us to inventory the scrolls to see what exactly Konoha will be coming into as part of the mission payment," said Sarutobi, happy with the fact that this was one easy part that would not cause undue headache.

"Actually Hokage-sama, Naruto-sama stated he wished for the inventory to take place in front of the council. This way neither side could be accused of deception. As your jonin and chunin will testify everything of value, besides some clothing and personal products, is in the scrolls which I would like to seal with Naruto-sama's personal seal and I will allow you to hold unto them until the appointment tomorrow," said Me-Ka thinking to herself that she should show respect to Naruto while in public.

Everyone was speechless as the Hokage gripped his pipe very tightly for a moment and then hit his head on his desk. He quickly recovered to everyone's dismay.

"That will be fine, be here at noon tomorrow for the discussion," replied the calm Hokage as he cried on the inside about how much trouble and paperwork Naruto was causing him. As Me-Ka sealed the ten scrolls with some seal Naruto gave her Hokage unlocked a private safe to store them in. He then bid Me-Ka goodbye and asked Torappu to see her home as he talked to Kurenai.

"So, he went to get her. Do you know why?" asked the old man.

"I have several theories, but with Naruto it is always theories," Kurenai replied.

"I have my own but what are yours?"

"He wanted family, this was the fastest way to that. He also wants power for some reason, this also leads to it," said Kurenai. "My only problem is that he could have had family here along with power, why did he specifically go to an outside source is my point."

"Probably because he would be suspect of peoples motives while in Konoha. People may do help him because of who is parents were, or for his kekkei genkai or just manipulate him. He feels safer with strangers then people he knows which is sad but fair," replied the Hokage. "If that is all, I think you should head home to rest and then escort Me-Ka here for the meeting tomorrow."

XXXXX

As the council settled down there were collective mumbles on whom the woman standing next to Kurenai and the Hokage was. Finally the Hokage began:

"I have come to inform the council of several developments that arose from the recent mission that Team 8, consisting of Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuga and Naruto Touketsu Ki are genin's of went on. They are on related assignment right now but Kurenai has brought back their report."

"Who is this woman and why is she here for this important discussion?" cried several of the less disciplined councilors while Shikaku Nara was banging his head slightly. Inoichi, his friend asked why and the reply was "Naruto is always troublesome."

"Quiet!" yelled the Hokage, leaking a little K.I. to get everyone settled down. "Thank you, now this is Me-Ka-san. She is one of several new retainers of the Touketsu Ki clan. She is here on behalf of the clan to take up their seat on the council." This got another uproar, which in turn caused Sarutobi to leak more K.I. at the council.

"We are also here to oversee the second half of payment that the Touketsu Ki clan owes to Konoha for a mission recently assigned. As per the agreement any and all ninjutsu scrolls and half of all money found on the mission is to be given to Konoha. Kurenai will testify that everything was gone through and anything not of personal use, such as clothes and such, are in these ten scrolls. When they arrived a personal seal was applied to them and they were then stored in my personal safe to ensure they remained unopened by either party. We will now proceed to open them one by one and collect all that is due to the village. Everything else will be resealed and taken by Me-Ka to the clan property," the Hokage finished before Kurenai handed him the scrolls and Me-Ka undid the personal sealed on one of them. Sarutobi himself personally unsealed all the objects contained within the scroll and then sorted through the items.

After unsealing all the items and placing them into piles by category they looked at what the piles had. In one very large pile were weapons and a moveable forge with anvil and all the tools needed to make most weapons. Another pile was full of furniture, dining sets and many home maker items. There were four other piles; three of scrolls and one of money. The scrolls were sorted in piles of taijutsu, genjutsu and ninjutsu. There were about thirty scrolls on six different and complex taijutsu styles in that pile. The genjutsu pile was smaller but had about fifteen scrolls with one or two techniques per scroll depending on the complexity of the technique. The final pile was the smallest; there were but five ninjutsu scrolls, each with one technique; all but one of the techniques was D-rank or lower. The one that was higher was a C-rank wind technique which most shinobi had no affinity towards. The pile of money was even less impressive; there was about enough money for two D-rank missions, meaning the village would get about one D-ranks worth of the pile.

The council was outraged that they would be getting so little. They saw that the genjutsu and taijutsu scrolls would help Konoha better than some 'worthless' low rank techniques. Many other were admiring some of the weapons that were on display, as many were master craftsman's work. Sarutobi sighed and quieted them as he turned towards Me-Ka, who was in her council seat, for an explanation.

"Naruto-sama wished to state that he never stated there were many of either money or ninjutsu scrolls at the hideout. He merely stated that he was willing to give up either if found. If you had asked he would have informed you that in the letter he received that Shi-kun stated that our former home was not rich in ninjutsu or money. Shi-kun added that in hopes of driving off the greedy from coming to our home in the event of his death. Now that we have split up everything into appropriate piles I believe I will take my clan's property back to our home; if you try to steal, coerce or bribe any of what is legally my clan's from me I will be forced to declare the village has broken several tenants of the law and will with full backing of the Touketsu Ki clan head withdraw our support from the village and make a complaint to the Daimyo," Me-Ka stated as she rose and went to retrieve the sealing scrolls for the non-village items. When everything was sealed she quickly left, leaving many furious councilors on the civilian and shinobi side.

Shikaku Nara just went up to the Hokage and said "How?"

"I trusted his word," was the reply.

"His word is good, you just need to not think he won't try and con you next time. He never said there were large amounts of either money or ninjutsu scrolls. He said he was willing to part with any he found and he was because he had outside information; is he that good at hiding his intent?" asked the Nara.

"Yes, I believed that he offered something of value when he almost knew he was offering me a rotten apple; he and I will talk soon," sighed the weary and depressed Hokage. He didn't want to be so paranoid of Naruto, who was at one point like his grandson, but he had to be, this just broke so much of the trust he still had for the young man. He just hoped that Naruto would regain it eventually.

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Part II (starts a few days before Part I and continues during it.)

XXXX

Naruto and his team minus Kurenai were headed towards Nami no Kuni with all due haste. While jumping Naruto could not help but wonder at the reaction of the council to the rest of his mission payment. He knew he was isolating himself and his clan, which is why he was doing it. He wanted his clan to have as few attachments to Konoha as possible; it would make his future moves easier.

Hinata meanwhile was reassessing her priorities. While she did like Naruto and had for some time she was thinking of why she liked him. She liked him for the brains and courage he showed to the council and his appearance was also nice but she had to say that while he was never rude, unless in anger, he was not kind or caring or many of the other things she wanted in a boyfriend. She was coming to the thought that unless he majorly changed in some personal tendencies she could not date him for her own well being. He was a friend, a distant one, but a friend none the less but she could not get past that friendship anytime soon if ever. She was sad at this realization but figured it was better now than later.

Shino was wondering of the mission and all its implications. It would give Naruto's clan more power but also bring in new shinobi that could possibly help Konoha. He could not figure Naruto out, he did not seem to like Konoha all that well but had, through the children, brought several nearly extinct kekkei genkai to the village. 'Was Naruto building an army to eventually take over,' was one of his thoughts. But he quickly smothered it with the thought that Naruto would want to appear loyal and not be doing everything to piss off the council if he was to try and make a power play.

Yamato had two distinct lines of thought: one was what the hell Kakashi was thinking when he continued on with a mission that was so dangerous when he had genin to look after. The other thought was that now that Naruto had some power with someone sitting on the council what would he do? This was the more irritating of the two seeing as he knew that Kakashi probably left it up to the kiddies to decide, Kakashi was that lazy. But since he knew Naruto but not what his plan was he had no clue as to how this would affect Konoha, which was his main concern.

Team 8 had camped once before getting a boat ride to Nami no Kuni. They had found the very poor town that was situated on this point of the island. They asked around and finally spotted Sakura shopping with an older woman.

"Sakura, could help us find Kakashi-senpai?" asked Yamato. Sakura jumped at the sudden voice behind her. When she saw who it was asking she nearly hugged Yamato in relief.

"Sorry about that," she said. "I'll take you there when I'm done shopping with Tsunami-san."

As they got led to the house Sakura told them about all the events that had happened in great detail. She also spoke of how Kakashi had started them on the tree-walking exercise to help with control. Team 8 just looked at her like she had a second head for a second before Shino spoke.

"What has Kakashi been teaching you up until now?"

"We usually do team work exercises and D-rank missions. That is after he shows up an hour or two late. We usually get done by four in the afternoon and are free for whatever we want to do," Sakura spoke not understanding why she needed to say it, didn't everyone do the same.

"Ok, how far are we until the house," said Yamato to try and stop the conversation before his students asked some more embarrassing questions or attacked Sakura's teacher verbally.

"Only around that bend up ahead," Sakura said as she quickened pace.

XXXXX

Team 8 had been there for a few days and was not impressed with what Kakashi had taught his students before the mission. They realized that the only person getting more training then what Sakura stated was Kiba. Kiba had been led off every now and again for an hour or so lecture and technique session, usually when Sakura and Sasuke were distracted. (Remember Kakashi's orders.)

Team 8 meanwhile had been perfecting some skills they already knew and Yamato was guarding the bridge builder in the mean time. Hinata was practicing taijutsu forms and sparing Shino occasionally. Shino was working on moving his hive better and getting his response time up while sparring Hinata. Naruto had said he needed to work on some clan stuff and left the others to their own devices. It was during one of his sessions that he found a woman picking herbs in a clearing.

"Hello there, what are you up to today?" asked Naruto.

"Oh, you sacred me. I am picking herbs to help a sick friend of mine," was his reply. Naruto noticed a little twitch in her finger when he had first approached and realized she was lying, but for what reason he did not.

"What herbs are specifically looking for, I have some knowledge in that area and could help," he said.

"That would be wonderful," said the woman as she showed Naruto the plants she was collecting.

"So, does the pretty lady have a name or am I to call you Niwashi (gardener)," Naruto said to try and get a conversation going as the woman smiled.

"Haku is my name and would you tell me yours or shall I call you Bunya te(field hand)," was her reply. Naruto smirked at this answer.

"I am Naruto."

"What a unique name. Let me ask you Naruto, do you have someone precious to you?"

"Not as of yet; I had some but events have made me realize that I was not viewed the same by them. I hope to gain several people precious to me eventually," he said with much regret.

"I am sorry, it is just my view that people who protect those precious to them become stronger than those who don't," Haku gave him a sad smile.

"I would say that to an extent you are right. I believe that faith, not necessarily religion, but faith in someone or something is important. A man who believes that they are fighting for a noble cause or an ideal can have more fervor then most other men. You have faith in someone precious to you, which is good, humans survive on faith but does this person hold you in the same regards. But what is faith in them that is not returned? If they do not return what is showered upon them then they do not deserve that praise; if they would do an act of kindness, but only for their own gain, it is not kindness. A king that takes in the peoples love or money and uses it to help the people in turn is better than one who hordes it for his own personal gain. That is my belief at least."

"It is a nice ideal, but what would you do if someone saved you but asked of you something that is hard to give and causes you pain to perform?" asked a slightly upset and disgruntled Haku.

"I would thank them for their kindness and leave. If barred from that I would leave whenever I could," spoke Naruto.

"I admire you for your bravery but I must take the herbs now and go," Haku got up to leave.

"Before you go, can you tell me what Zabuza did to save you?" Naruto asked a shocked Haku.

"Who is this Zabuza?" asked a slightly flustered Haku as she secretly went for her needles.

"Your master is Zabuza. You move like a shinobi and noticed me entering the clearing, by the way nice acting like you didn't. The plants you have picked up help cure chakra exhaustion and help get nerves working again. Those are the perfect plants to help with someone who fought a ninjutsu master and was put into a death like state. Please do not lie to me," stated Naruto.

"What will you do with this revelation?" asked the hesitant Haku.

"Nothing is you answer a few questions. One is; what did Zabuza do to secure your loyalty? Two is; when will you attack so can have preparations ready for departure ready? Three is; would you like a home with a loving family and the potential to do whatever you desire in life?"

Haku hesitated for a moment. "Zabuza saved me from the purges in Kiri. We will attack in two days time. I would love for a home but can't leave Zabuza. Why would you ask?"

"I am willing to offer you, and Zabuza if you care to inform him, that I will adopt you into my clan. Tell him that the son of the Yodaime Hokage keeps his word. I also want you to know that I just adopted several dozen children, some from Kiri with similar problems that you had. You may have a relative amongst them. But for now I believe you should go back to Zabuza," Naruto stated.

Haku was perplexed but listened to the blonde and left while not even protesting the assumption that she was female.

XXXXX

AN: Someone asked why Sarutobi and others were trying to control Naruto so much. They think the Hokage was jumping at shadows with his reaction. Here is my explanation:

Naruto is a former demon container; he has every right to hate Konoha and to want to see it burn.

Naruto wields the kekkei genkai of the founder of Konoha; if he left it would be a blow to the moral of the population and be an international embarrassment.

Naruto is the son of a Hokage; reasons from 2.

Naruto has the potential to be one of the most powerful shinobi ever and they believe he has no loyalty to Konoha.

No one knows what Naruto is thinking or what the fox talked about or did to him.

Naruto has already isolated himself from Konoha and most of the council sees him as dangerous as a potential enemy in the future.

Sarutobi feels guilty but the council is forcing him to keep tabs on Naruto.

When Naruto gets back from the mission he will get his personalized weapon.

Also, I like Kakashi, but he is not the best genin instructor. He would be a good ANBU instructor or teaching new jonin. He does not teach genin, who may or may not know what they need to work on, very well. I believe he assumes that the genin would know their own weaknesses and work by themselves to improve upon them. This is the way he was taught and raised because he was on the battle field since he was young. It is like taking a college professor and putting him to teach Middle School, Jr. High, kids; it doesn't work.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto  
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Kakashi had predicted that Zabuza would be ready for a fight this day. Yamato agreed with his assessment given all the pertinent facts. Yamato left some clones with the family incase Gato decided to go after them. Then as a group the 8 shinobi escorted the bridge builder to his work sight all of them with an eerie sense of foreboding. As the approached the incomplete bridge they noticed a thick fog was rolling into the area. Hinata reported that the fog had chakra in it and because of that she could not see through it with her byakugan.

"So this is your back up; another jonin with some more gakis. I can't say that I am surprised with how far Konoha has fallen from the position it once held if all they can send is genin teams against me. Well at least my Kumo friends will get a nice work out today," laughed Zabuza. The mist thinned enough to show Zabuza on one end of the bridge. Next to him was the fake hunter-nin; a short distance from that pair were three men with slashed Kumo hiait-ite. Two of them looked like twins with red hair and dark eyes. They both wore urban camouflage pants and jacket but each one wielded a different weapon. One had a long spear and the other had twin tantos. The last man was just as big as Zabuza and dressed similar to the other two from Kumo but he wielded an over sized mallet in one hand.

"Shit. Yamato will take the Denkou Hanma (lightning hammer). Kiba, Shino, Sasuke and Hinata will take the Chi no Souseiji (bloody twins), watch out they are almost jounin working alone but together they are much stronger. Naruto you will take the hunter-nin, hopefully she didn't earn it. Sakura guard the client, but back up the others with kunai and shiriken," said Kakashi upon seeing the opponents as he charged Zabuza with a kunai.

Naruto went to face his opponent. He had known this was a plausible scenario when he made his offer towards her. He stared at the hunter mask before he spoke.

"Please take off the mask. I cannot stand the fact you believe it deceives me."

"I'll leave it on until one of us wins. Zabuza-sama has told me that if I am defeated by you that he will look into coming with you but only if you beat me," spoke Haku. She suddenly launched a handful of sebon at him which he dodged with some difficulty. "If those were hard to dodge than this match is over."

Haku continued the assault with water jutsu and needles trying to test Naruto and bait him into revealing his trump card early. Naruto continued to dodge and block albeit slower than Haku thought he would with how he looked to be built for speed. Finely Naruto stood straight and cracked his neck.

"That was fun but how about you use what you are hiding and I'll reveal some of my secrets," stated Naruto.

"Fine, prepare to die."

With that a large dome of ice mirrors surrounded Naruto and Haku. Haku quickly leapt into one of the mirrors and her image appeared on all of them. She then proceeded to throw even more needles at Naruto.

"This is a very good jutsu Haku. But I have several that are better," Naruto stated as he ran through an impressive amount of hand seals.

"Gaiyou no Fuyu (general winter)," he called out as a shell of ice formed around him as protection. He continued on with more hand seals.

"Gaiyou no Fuyu: Kyoukou Susumu (general winter: forced march)." Spikes grew out of the shell and proceeded to stab every mirror and when Haku went to abandon them the spikes chased her. She tried most of her methods of escape but the ice followed.

"Gaiyou no Fuyu: Hisame (general winter: ice storm)." The recently grown spikes of ice split and danced around Haku herding her back towards the shell Naruto was still in.

"Gaiyou no Fuyu: Fuyu no Guntai (general winter: winter army)." The shards of ice form giant humanoid shapes and approached the tired and petrified Haku.

"Gaiyou no Fuyu: Younin (general winter: embrace)." The ice giants reached for Haku and upon catching her surrounded her in a similar shell of ice that Naruto was in. Haku immediately realized that her chakra was slowly being leached from he and into the shell.

Naruto emerged from his own shell and stumbled his way to Haku. Upon placing his hand on the shell he withdrew the stored up chakra and started to get some color back and seemed a bit healthier.

"Those were exhausting techniques. But I have defeated you and so I will now discuss it with your current employer," said a tired Naruto as he popped a soldier pill to further replenish his chakra. As he got up to help the other he heard a shrill cry that sounded like hundreds of birds. The mist suddenly thinned allowing him and Haku to see Kakashi Hatake with his hand in Zabuza's chest. Zabuza himself was held by some wood that had formed around him. Yamato could be seen kneeling over the corpse of his opponent panting heavily. The twins had been bloodied and tied up by the other four who looked like they had been cut up very bad but they were mainly minor wounds except for the gash going down Sasuke's arm that Hinata was bandaging until Sakura shoved her away and did it herself.

Claps were heard from the other end of the bridge as a short man in a suit approached them. He was surrounded by a few hundred thugs that normally would be no problem for the shinobi but were now that they were injured or exhausted.

"I cannot believe you did it. You actually killed him and made it so that I did not have to pay him. Well how about we end it now," the man smiled sickly.

"Anyone that can help, please do so. Yamato and I can only take some of these guys before we are over whelmed," whispered Kakashi to the genin.

Naruto stepped forward and whispered back "Keep him talking I have a jutsu that can take quite a few out but I haven't been able to practice it much." Naruto began some slow hand seals as Kakashi tried to delay the impending fight.

"So, you're Gato. Thought you would be taller."

"…."

"Whoever brings me that idiots head gets paid double," said Gato as he walked his thugs charge. Naruto finished his hand seals a second later and placed his hand on the ground and pushed his remaining chakra into the jutsu.

"Ki no Dansu: Bou nono Dansu (dance of wood: dance of the stake)." Wooden spike sprouted from the ground and impaled many of the charging men. Most were horrified and the scene of their friends being lifted into the air after being impaled. Most of the men that had been hit by the jutsu had not died yet and their screams filled the air with their death wails. Naruto collapsed from exhaustion after completing the jutsu.

Kakashi and Yamato quickly began to kill the survivors who were still too stunned to respond fast enough. Finally the few stragglers began to flee only to run into some armed civilians from Nami. Gato had been captured by them and the quickly went off to execute him. The shinobi gathered up the wounded, dead and captured and took them back to Tazuna's house.

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AN: sorry about the short chapter and the delay.

I know that I have not update his appearance but I will do that here.

He is of average height for his age and still thin (just not deathly so). He has visible muscles but they are thinner and look to be built for speed before strength. He is not as pale but it is still noticeable. His outfit is some dark pants and a dark shirt with a mesh shirt over that. He where's typical sandals and has his head band on his blue and white sash at around his waist.

Naruto ranks in jutsu proficiency:

Mastery-silent and one to no hand seals.

Near mastery-few hand seals and whispered name.

High skill: Less hand seals and vocal. Combat proffered.

Intermediate: Reduced hand seals by some and still vocal. Combat ready.

Workable: Faster hand seals and less vocal. Combat ready if pushed.

Beginner: All the hand seals and at a somewhat slower pace, vocal.

Jutsu I made in the series so far:

Mokuton: Ki Baku Satsu (wood style: tree binding death)-this jutsu looks like the genjutsu of the same name. It grows a tree around the target that the user comes out of. Middle B-rank. Naruto's ability with it: Mastery.

Mokuton: naimenteki ki roujou (wood style: inner tree confinement)-like the headhunter jutsu it pulls the victim into an object, a tree in this case. D-rank. Naruto's ability with it: Mastery.

Hyōton: koori no engeki no jimen (ice style: ice play ground)-a dome of ice forms around the target and user as ice spikes out toward the target. On the call "Koware me (Break)" the dome shatters and rains ice shards on everyone inside. High A-rank kinjutsu because of chakra use and danger to user; used so much of his reserves because of the area covered and his anger impacted his control. Naruto's ability with it: Beginner.

Gaiyou no Fuyu (general winter)-a defensive technique that surround the user in a shell of chakra laced ice. Middle B-rank- not as thick as an earth wall but covers the user entirely. Naruto's ability with it: Intermediate.

Gaiyou no Fuyu: Kyoukou Susumu (general winter: forced march)-Spikes come out of the previously defensive technique and try to impale the target; used mainly to force the target away from user for a moment. Middle B-rank to lowA-rank. Naruto's ability with it: Intermediate.

Gaiyou no Fuyu: Hisame (general winter: ice storm)-Using the previous ice spikes, it splits them up into tiny shards used to cut the opponent. Can reflect light to blind opponent also; used mainly to herd opponent towards enclosed area of trap. Middle B-rank skill but high B-rank chakra. Naruto's ability with it: Intermediate.

Gaiyou no Fuyu: Fuyu no Guntai (general winter: winter army)-Ice shards condense into large humanoid shapes. These shapes act on the will of the user to attack target. Middle B-rank. Naruto's ability with it: Intermediate.

Gaiyou no Fuyu: Younin (general winter: embrace)-Uses the humanoid army to latch onto an opponent and freeze a prison around them. Causes chakra to be drained from the target to maintain itself. Low A-rank because of difficulty in draining the chakra and not killing the opponent with the cold. Naruto's ability with it: Workable.

Gaiyou no Fuyu series-using all the current Gaiyou no Fuyu quickly after another gets results that exceed what most would believe it would; together they are low S-rank. They use a large amount of chakra and require high control, which Naruto compensates for with more chakra, thus draining him faster until he gets better at control. Naruto's ability with it: Workable for short periods.

Ki no Dansu: Bou nono Dansu (dance of wood: dance of the stake)-Causes wooden stakes to pop out of the ground impaling the opponent; used against crowds or to herd an opponent. High B-rank. Naruto's ability with it: Workable. First of several Dances.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto  
XXXXX

Naruto's group had just arrived back in Konoha. They had left Kakashi after the bridge fight since there was very little for them left to do. They had also brought the prisoner back with them. Now they were having a dispute about what to do with her. And because it involved Naruto the council was called up.

"We have convened this council to discuss what is to be done with the recent prisoner acquired by team 8 when they helped team 7 on their recent mission. She has a kekkei genkai that controls ice and has had no official connection to any village. The problem is that Naruto wishes her to join his clan and while she has accepted she is still a prisoner and I do not believe that we can allow this because of the valuable information she could hold. That along with the fact I believe the decision was made under duress should be noted," stated Koharu in her opening. Many on the council heard the hidden message that the advisor did not want to give Naruto any more power.

"If these are your thoughts then why not just bring her in here and tell her all of her options and let her decided. All options would have to allow for an interrogation so as to get whatever information she has but we could be lenient on her for how cooperative she is," said Shikaku Nara.

"I agree as Naruto's representative with this option but let it be known that her kekkei genkai is one of the ones that formed Naruto's and as such she is most likely a relation of his. That being said that unless she swears off her name she is automatically part of the Touketsu Ki clan," Me-Ka explained.

"Well, let us bring her in," stated Homura. The doors opened and in stepped Haku.

"Well Haku-chan, we are here to discuss what you want in the village. One thing you will have to do is answer question in an interrogation. But after that you have several options. One of the clans can take you in or you can be a free lance shinobi with no clan affiliation. You can choose what you want but almost any clan would take you in if you asked," stated Koharu.

"I would like to live with Naruto-sama's clan if that is alright. He has treated me fairly and was the one to defeat me. He has also taken in other and so I would not feel awkward in joining. As for the interrogation why not just ask me now I will not hide anything," said Haku.

Many of the council were disappointed that she chose to go with Naruto but could do nothing. The council asked many questions of her and she answered all she could. Some were enraged that she couldn't tell them certain pieces of information but they concluded she wasn't lying to them either. The meeting was dismissed and Haku and Me-ka went back to the compound where Naruto was working to sign all the children into the security system. When Haku and Me-ka came to the front he added them and they then met with all the children in front of the house for a discussion.

"I know many of you do not know me well but I am the clan head but that means nothing since I have yet to earn your respect. If you do not wish to stay with the clan you can leave after informing me. Anyone wish to leave now?" Naruto asked. No one moved. "Ok. I will get to work on several buildings for the next few days, since I have them off. Some of the rules are not to go into my study or bedroom without permission. In fact ask permission before going into anybodies bed room. We will all eat together, barring other conflict, at breakfast and dinner; we do this because we are a family and we should do things together. The library is open to anybody but do not try a jutsu out unless Me-ka, Haku or myself are there; we don't want you injured. Lastly is that if you wish to become a shinobi of Konoha I will not stop you from going to the academy, but you are not to speak of how you get into this place or what is inside here, understood. But even if you do not wish to join the shinobi forces you will know how to defend yourself, including with chakra and I will also pay for an apprenticeship in whatever trade you decide to take up."

Everyone looked around and thought that was a fair deal. Hey all decided to settle in to the somewhat cramped house for the night, knowing it was the last time they would be so tightly fit. Haku and Me-ka stayed back to talk more with Naruto.

"What should I do?" asked Haku.

"I would like it if you became my bodyguard and personal medic. I know you have skills in the medical arts and I have scrolls on how to practice and extend that knowledge. But if you feel that is not your calling then we can have you do something else."

"That is fine," she said.

"Good, now Me-ka what do you want to talk about?"

"I want you to look over these proposals I am going to have in front of the council tomorrow," she stated handing over sever pieces of paper.

"I agree that the medical staff and the academy need to be overhauled but do you believe the security does?"

"Yes, we could even have a demonstration done to show the council," she said.

"I'll agree if only I get to do the demonstration," he smirked.

"I'll pass that along."

"Good night you two, I need to practice tomorrow and create some living space," he said wearily and walked away from the two women.

"So, do you like him?" asked Me-ka.

"Yes, he is very kind yet powerful," stated the blushing Haku.

"That he is. He is a little dense though when it comes to social interactions, which comes from his isolation. So if you like him you will have to tell him," Me-ka stated before leaving to sleep as well.

Haku stood there for a moment before going to sleep.

XXXXXXX

Naruto had built several smaller houses, a dormitory and a large dining hall around the main house in the weeks since he had gotten back. He had also crafted a blacksmith facility and a large training field for the compound and he was currently working on his armed and unarmed combat there.

"You know those styles do not fit you, right," said Me-ka.

"Yes, but they are what I have at the moment."

"So true, although I think there is something in the taijutsu scrolls I brought back that could help you, plus I know a weapon for you," she said.

"Oh, that would be very helpful," he said as he followed her to retrieve the items required.

Naruto read the scroll over before smirking at the ingenuity of the style and how it solved the weapon and taijutsu problem. The scroll set he was looking at was titled The Hidden Weapon Style. The more advance forms had more weapons and showed more ways to use each one. The greatest thing about it was that the style was meant to force opponents away from his body which then they would be in range of his main area of focus which was ninjutsu. Naruto loved the style already.

XXXX

While Naruto was reading his new fighting forms several jonin were meeting to discuss something of great importance to the village with the Hokage.

"I, Kakashi Hatake nominate my squad form the Chunin Exams."

"I, Kurenai Yuhi along with Yamato nominate our squad for the Chunin Exams."

"I, Asuma Sarutobi nominate my squad for the Chunin Exams."

The Hokage stared at the three and then burst into tears because he knew that this would cause trouble, because as Shikaku Nara said "with Naruto anything is trouble."

XXXX

AN: sorry for the delay.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto  
XXXXX

Naruto was meeting his team outside the academy to attend the Chunin Exams. When they showed them gave him very curious looks that he just lifted an eyebrow to question. Finally Shino spoke up.

"What is with your new outfit?"

"You'll find out soon enough," Naruto said as his teammates looked him over again. He had combat boots with black steel toes and thick rubber soles. He wore camouflage combat pants with shin guards. The shin guards looked to be longer, thicker and encompass more of his leg than normal ones. His torso was covered in a tight black shirt that had some armored plates on top of it. He wore a trench coat whose sleeves went down to his elbows. On his forearms he had arm guards that completely encircled his arm from wrist to elbow and seemed to be of the same thickness as his shin guards. He had leather gloves covering his hands. Steel plates were visible on the back of the gloves and where his knuckles would be. One last piece of the gloves were the barely visible protrusions from the end of each finger. Naruto wore a collar around his neck that had spikes coming out of the thick leather. He also had a small kunai hanging from his newly pierced left ear. The final piece was the black head band hiding all of his hair with his fore head protector strangely blackened to blend in with the cloth.

His teammates sighed and started into the building and Naruto followed them. They got there just in time to hear Sasuke announce the genjutsu hiding the room number from everybody. Naruto and his team moved around the ensuing fight and proceeded to the correct room. Before they entered they saw Kurenai and Yamato who nodded to them as they entered though both instructors gave Naruto a curious glance and noticed that he walked a bit stiffly, like he did not want to move his ankles.

As his team entered they noticed that Team 10 was also there and so went to talk with them. It had been a few minutes before Kiba burst into the room. This caused many teams to look that way and caused a large amount of KI to be sent his team's way. Naruto understood that this was just a test to see how well he handled it and to measure his strength.

Suddenly a silver haired man berated the rookies for making a scene. He then proceeded to tell them about how the test usually works and offered information on any of the competitors to them. The Uchiha asked for two people he didn't recognize but he listened anyway. When the strange called Kabuto dismissed the team from the Sound village he knew there was going to be trouble. It was the way he dismissed them, like he really knew of their power from firsthand experience, but that couldn't be true because Sound had only recently been established. That and the fact that he was in easy hearing distance of the Sound competitors and the way those genin had twitched at his dismissal did not bode well.

He was right. With speed that was impressive for a genin the two males from Sound attacked Kabuto. And before retaliation could occur the proctor showed up. Many people assumed that Kabuto had just been hit by the bandaged genin but a few rookies noticed that he had in fact missed but Kabuto still went down. That along with the ringing Kiba mentioned and Naruto heard left a few with the impression of an attack by sound, a hard thing to produce.

The proctor explained the exam and scoring to the assembled group. Seats had been assigned and teams were split to help make the testing harder. Hinata and Shino quickly deduced the test was to cheat without begin caught and used their clan abilities to the fullest. Hinata though looked at Naruto and saw him doing nothing but staring at the proctor. Hinata could see that he had not written anything but also seemed to not be worried if his heart rate was any indication.

Naruto himself knew the purpose of the exam but was content with waiting. By waiting he would ensure that many of the remaining tests in his area would have the answers. While it was true that there would be less people and therefore a larger chance to get caught he felt his method of cheating would negate that advantage. He waited until they had ten minutes until the tenth question. He then proceeded to loudly crack his knuckles causing everyone to stare at him before continuing the test.

What no one but Ibiki saw was that when he cracked his knuckles he also stomped on the ground. Ibiki was wondering what happened before he barely felt two chakra presences moving through the floor. One of the chakra moved toward a Rain team member and the other towards the window so he waited to see what happened. The one at the window suddenly flared and the windows cracked from an unseen increase in pressure. As everyone looked over Ibiki smirked as he caught a clone stealing one of the Rain team's papers and switched with Naruto's own paper with no smoke. The clone dissolved back into the floor before many realized what had happened.

When a Rain nin got up and complained about cheating instructors changing his paper he got his team disqualified with little time left. Ibiki then gave the rules for the tenth question and waited as teams started to leave. Naruto signaled to Hinata to stay calm and wait. When many teams had left Ibiki told them they had all passed and proceeded to tell them the reasoning behind the test and how important information is to a shinobi's life, most of which Naruto understood and had figured out.

Through the busted windows came some kunai that pulled a banner behind it. The banner read 'The second Exam starts now with the sexy proctor Anko Mitarashi.' The purple haired kunoichi was a sight to behold. She was clad enough to not give a free show but the clothing was spars enough to hint at what she had to offer. Overall it was an exciting and distracting way to dress.

"So maggots, you all passed the first exam. Well the second exam starts in an hour at training ground 44. Be there or you are disqualified," the proctor smirked before leaping back out the window off to god knows where before the exam.

"Well that was fun, don't you think," stated Naruto as he walked up to his team mates. They both shook their heads.

"Do you happen to know where training ground 44 is?" asked Hinata.

"Yes" said Naruto as he jumped off.

XXXX

AN: Sorry for the shortness and lack of details at points but I cannot seem to write the first exam in much detail.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto  
XXXXX

The teams had arrived outside of training ground 44. Team 8 had stayed in the back trying to be unnoticed as Shino had his insects to towards as many teams as he could safely get them to attach to. As the rules of the test were read they noticed that several groups seemed very interested in team 7 and decided that the Uchiha's team would draw unwanted attention and so they would avoid them. As the teams got their scrolls Hinata looked for the one they would need. Team 8 had gotten an earth scroll and spotted several heaven scrolls that they could try and retrieve. When they were assigned a door they talked about who they would go after.

"So with these teams wanting to be avoided because of the attention they attract or the unwanted danger levels they seem to exude who are we left with?" asked Naruto.

"There is the Taki team we could fight," said Hinata.

"Their door is close my bugs say," said Shino.

"Good, we take out that team as fast as we can and then head towards the tower. The less time we spend out here the better chance we have of being successful in out endeavor," Naruto said right before the doors to the forest opened.

XXX

Several hours into the exam squad 8 had finally caught up to the Taki team. The team seemed to be resting after successfully stealing the scroll they requires. Naruto signaled Hinata and Shino his plan and they agreed with it. Naruto slowly sank into the tree branch he was on.

Hinata stuck a kunai in the trunk of the tree that was right above the Taki team. She waited for them to have settled down and tapped the kunai several times.

Naruto felt the vibrations of the tree that coded where the required scrolls were. He slipped out of the tree above the unwary genin and pick pocketed the team's two scrolls. He then slide back into the tree and rejoined his team mates who reconfirmed they were the right scrolls before they left for the tower.

They camped out about two kilometers from the tower because they needed rest and they didn't want to get to close to a place that would most likely be trapped at night.

They arrived the next morning at the tower and quickly opened their scrolls to reveal Yamato-sensei.

"I am very proud of you three. You did this exam fast and efficiently if the lack of injuries tells us anything," he said.

"Yes, we merely stole a scroll with no confrontation," replied Hinata.

XXX

The next few days moved by quickly while they waited for everyone else to show up. Team 8 did a few sparring sessions just to remain focused on what they would eventually do. Finally they were told to line up in a small arena. They noticed that quite a few teams had passed. There was Kabuto's team along with team 10, 7 and the older one with Hinata's cousin on it. Of the foreign teams there was a Suna team, the Oto team and the team from Taki that they had stolen their scroll from, it seems they were still able to pass.

They listened to the announcement of preliminaries, much to the indignation of several people. A new proctor was brought forward. His name was Hayate and he seemed to have a very bad cough, weather it was a real one or not was unknown by Naruto. The first of the matches were quickly called.

"Will everybody except Neji Hyuga and Yoroi Akado please leave to the stands," called out Hayate with several coughs in between.

The fight started and proved to be a somewhat interesting one. One genin sending chakra laced strikes toward the other who would try and absorb the chakra before it did damage. It became a contest of who could strike or counter faster. In the contest Neji and his 64 palms strike won out.

The next match was between Shikimaru and the sound kunoichi. It was relatively simple for Shikimaru to win by out thinking his opponent. The match after was Kabuto's other team mate and a Suna kid with a package on his back. It turned into a puppeteer verses the human bendy straw. Turns out that the puppet wins every time. The next match caused Naruto to smirk at.

"Will Hinata Hyuga and Kiba Inuzuka come down," called Hayate.

"Hinata, beat him silly, he is arrogant," Naruto whispered to her.

The match started with Kiba bragging about how he would wipe the floor with the weak Hyuga. He then made some very bad comments about kunoichi in general and some perverted comments about Hinata directly. He then charged with some decent speed. Hinata ducked under his punch and hit a few of his chakra points in his arm. She then rotated under and around him and hit some more points on his legs. When his dog came to help him out she caught it by the scruff of its neck hit a few points to knock it out. She then turned to the downed Inuzuka.

"Well, if kunoichi are weak in general and I am one of the weakest what does that make you?" she asked before hitting a few more points on his body to knock him out.

"Winner, Hinata Hyuga," cried Hayate to the cheering of Team 8 and the majority of the female population in the room.

Shino happened to be up next against Choji and while it was drawn out it was clear that Shino was in charge. He made Choji reveal his signature move to early and lured Choji into a position where his bugs could drain all his chakra and leave him helpless. Overall it was a decent match.

The next match proved to be exciting despite the ending. The Uchiha was paired with a Taki shinobi. Using no chakra the Uchiha fought against a bojutsu specialist and nearly lost. The Uchiha happened to get past the Taki-nins guard and land a punch on what happened to be an already fractured rib. This caused the rib to puncture the shinobi's lung and caused major bleeding. The Uchiha won because of a lucky hit Naruto thought.

There was a match between Kabuto and the Taki kunoichi and that proved interesting as Naruto and others thought Kabuto was holding back and allowed the kunoichi to win in the end. Ino and Sakura got in a cat fight for a double knock out, which was pitiful. A green clad genin from Konoha fought against one of the Oto-nins and lost because he couldn't move. The Oto-nin seemed to cause the Konoha-nin dizziness and other problems by sending sound into his inner ear to disrupt motor function.

The last Oto-nin lost in spectacular fashion to the red haired genin from Suna. He was literally crushed by his opponent. It took a while to clean up the arena after that. Naruto realized that throughout the entire match he was getting a strange feeling from the red haired kid. It was like a part of him wanted to subdue him.

One of the last matches was between a bun haired kunoichi and the Suna kunoichi. Both showed decent skills in combat but the Suna's wind jutsu just over powered the weapon user.

"Will the last two contestants come down," Hayate cried as Naruto made his way into the arena and looked at his opponent. The kid from Taki seemed to be well built and a little older than him. The muscles the kid displayed hinted at a close combat specialist.

"The match between Naruto Touketsu Ki versus Hintaki Netsumi will begin now," cried Hayate.

Hintaki rushed at Naruto. Naruto dodged the first combo of punches the kid through. He continued to use his smaller frame to weave around the impressive punches and kicks that were thrown his way.

"Do you think he will win?" asked Hinata to Yamato.

"Depends, if he can get the kid to back off and allow him to use his best moves, which are ninjutsu then yes. Otherwise I seriously doubt it," replied the man.

Hintaki was impressed by the kid that continued to dodge him but he was also getting frustrated. Finally he saw the kid trip over some ruble from the previous matches. He sent out his hand fast and caught the kid by the throat.

"Give up kid or I'll keep hitting you until you're dead," Hintaki said. Naruto smirked.

"I was wondering when you would catch me, I wanted to try out a move," was all Naruto said before he quickly twisted his head to the right.

As his head twisted the kunai on his left ear straightened out. The kunai was attached to his ear by some wire which stretched and caused the flying projectile to cut across Hintaki's face, just under his eyes.

"You nearly blinded me!" Hintaki raged as he instinctively let go of Naruto. Using his now falling motion he rotated his body to where he was doing a hand stand.

"That's what I was going for," he said before hooking one of his knees behind Hintaki's head and pulling him into the sole of his boot on his other foot. "Now give up and you won't die."

"Fuck you," Hintaki cried before a gurgling sound was heard. Naruto unhitched his legs from the other kid and flipped to where he was standing straight up.

"Wrong choice," was all he said before going toward his team. Everyone was shocked to see blood flowing from the other genin's throat and the bloody shoe prints that followed Naruto up the stairs.

"Winner, Naruto," said Hayate.

XXX

AN: How was it, was it good or only adequate?


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto  
XXXXX

Naruto stood in front of both his teachers a day after the preliminaries, although both of them and his teammates seemed a little wary of him. They were here to discuss who would be training them and when. The problem was that no one had been informed of who was fighting who. This was done to promote people preparing a more diverse skill set instead of the one to just beat their first opponent.

"Yamato-sensei, did you get a strange feeling from the red headed Suna shinobi?" Naruto finally asked.

"What feeling are you talking about?" Yamato asked although he thought he knew what it was.

"It was a strange feeling in the gut of wanting to stop the kid and to somehow suppress him," Naruto replied.

"Yes, that was the feeling I use to get around you. I believe that you have suitable skills in the area I could show you the basics of suppressing demonic chakra if you want," Yamato said.

"That would be advisable with the possibility of our confrontation. If it is not too much to ask can I meet you in the afternoons at our regular training ground? That way I can spend the mornings with my clan working on my close combat abilities," Naruto continued. His teachers looked at each other and shrugged.

"Sure, that sounds fine to me," Yamato said.

After a little more discussion where Hinata informed them that she would be working with her clan for the month and Kurenai would help Shino refine some other skills they were all dismissed except Naruto who was informed the Hokage would like to see him.

XXX

"You asked for me Hokage-sama?" Naruto entered the office.

"Yes, I would like to ask why you thought it prudent to kill your opponent."

"I gave him a chance to surrender and he refused. If I had tried to just incapacitate him it could have led to injuries to my person and possible defeat. Also the longer the battle was drawn out the more skill I would have to show and a shinobi is suppose to keep much of that secret," he stated.

"Ok," the Hokage said with a calculating eye. "What are some of these proposals your representative have been putting forth?"

"They ideas to better the safety of the village as a whole. Nothing more or less."

"I see that some of these things may help but why suggest them now when we can do nothing because of the Chunin exams?"

"To get it on the books that my clan wants to help the village and has pointed out the village's weaknesses to try and fix them."

"What about some of these changes regarding the academy and medical staff," Hiruzen asked.

"They are to raise the amount and quality of shinobi we produce and how long they stay on active duty, which in turn would help with invasions and amount of missions we could take."

"We will discuss them more in depth after the Chunin exam finals," the Sandaime said. As he watched Naruto leave he called out to him. "I am proud of you and I know your parents would be too."

"Why would you say that? It makes it seem like I am doing it for you or them when in fact neither is fact. I am doing this for myself and I doubt my genetic donors, with their village first attitude, would be like me or my ideas," Naruto said before he left.

XXX

As Naruto approached his compound entrance he saw one of several people he did not want to talk to out front.

"Yo, gaki need some help training. I could help with your taijutsu and could sign the toad contract," Jiraiya said.

"As I have told you before I do not want to associate with you outside of specific missions," Naruto said before trying to get around the man.

"Come on gaki. Do you really think your father would want you to at this way to your godfather? Plus I could help you with quite a bit of sealing and other areas," Jiraiya said.

"You are not my godfather as far as I or the law are concerned, I thought you would figure it out after all your years of trying. As for the man who sired me, he probably didn't want me abandoned so you should talk to him," Naruto spoke as calmly as he could but some anger had slipped in at the end.

"I came to try and prepare you for some things that are going to go down. There is this group that is hunting demon hosts…" was as far as the Sannin got.

"Which I am not and so it does not concern me," Naruto stated.

"Yes, but you were one and I think they will still come after you, whether it be for your power over the biju or to try and use you to reform the Kyuubi. Either way you are in danger and I hope to try and make you prepared for it," Jiraiya explained.

"While I thank you for the warning I will still decline. I have enough teachers as it is right now. If that is all I must get to training," Naruto said as he stepped around the man.

"While you may look like your father you act like neither of your parents," the Sannin said dejectedly.

"Of course I don't, I never knew them. A person is shaped by their experiences and so I am this way because of you and the rest of the village," Naruto stated before he left.

XXX

"What are you going to work on today Naruto-sama," asked Haku.

"I have asked you not to call me that unless in public, so please stop Haku-chan. I figure I'll work on more elemental manipulation and taijutsu and trying to combine the two," Naruto stated.

"Do you wish for help?"

"From you Haku-chan, always," Naruto stated while not seeing Haku's blush.

XXXX

(Finals start)

Naruto looked at the crowd around the stadium. All the finalists except the Uchiha were here. Naruto had heard that he had been taken by his teacher since he was the only one to pass the preliminaries. Naruto glanced around to see the rest of his team at the far end of the line, separated by the other competitors since they were sorted by last name.

"The rules of the exam are the same as in the preliminaries except for how we will be deciding fights. The first fight will be random, after that that the winner will challenge people until he/she loses. The next winner will also do the same until there is one person who has not lost. You may get promoted even if you only fight once, remember this is to show your prowess in combat for the crowds," the proctor called out to them.

Everyone watched as everyone was designated a number. The Hokage then picked one number out of the bag presented him and the Kazekage picked the second. The numbers were told.

"Will Neji Hyuga and Naruto Touketsu Ki stay on the ground and everybody else leave to the competitor's box," the proctor called.

Naruto stared at his opponent and knew that he would win; it was just a matter of how much it would take out of him and how much of his skills he would have to show.

"Fate has dictated that I will win this match, just give up now," Neji called out to him as he settled into the gentle fist stance.

Naruto just smirked and mirrored Neji's movements to everyone's shock.

XXX

AN: WTF? What is going on? I have no clue.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto  
XXXXX

The proctor started the match but Neji just stood there. He could not believe the sight before his eyes. An outsider was in the Hyuga's gentle fist stance. Could this person know his clan's taijutsu, their pride and joy? It was inconceivable. It was this that would ultimately cost Neji the match. For while it hadn't taken much time to get out of his stupor, it was in that time that Naruto had thrown a kunai at him. Neji was able to dodge most of it and only got a tiny cut on his wrist but it was enough.

"Neji, if fate had dictated you to win I would have missed with that kunai," Naruto stated.

"A little cut will not hinder me," Neji replied.

"No, the cut will not. The poison I put on the knife will though," Naruto replied.

"If it was poisoned you would not have told me."

"Actually by telling you your heart rate will speed up, making the poison spread faster, decreasing the time when it will be noticeable from five minutes down to only a few. The more you move and the more adrenaline that is pumped into your system the faster the poison will spread. All I have to do now is avoid you and if it seems like you are trying to calm yourself, launch a jutsu or something to get you moving," Naruto replied before he jumped away while doing hand seals.

Neji grimaced at his opponent's plan. His only options were losing or trying to beat his opponent before the poison took effect, neither of which were pleasant options. Neji tried to go for broke and charged after his nemesis.

"Come and fight me," Neji raged at the younger and smaller boy who dodged and avoided him.

"Why? My victory is guaranteed at this moment. All I have to do is stay away," Naruto said.

"You must be doing your parents proud to be just running away," Neji said trying to rile the boy up so he'll come close, all the while feeling numbness spreading throughout his body.

"They would probably praise me for being smart and not fighting in close combat with someone who has practiced it all their life while I have not. Shinobi should play to their strengths not their opponents. You are a hand-to-hand specialist, it would be foolish to fight you in that category unless I was also one," Naruto replied while throwing a few shuriken to keep him distracted as he had to avoid them.

Everybody in the audience could see Neji was slowing down and his movements were becoming sloppy. Some of his speech was starting to slur even. When he finally dropped after three minutes of fighting it was an expected result. While many did not like the fight for entertainment purposes the older shinobi in the audience appreciated the strategy Naruto had implemented with his distraction and then taking the opening it left for the take down. If it had not been in the exams where he could face his own village's shinobi the poison he used could very well have been lethal.

"The winner is Naruto Touketsu Ki," the proctor announced. "Tell the medics what you used and then announce who you want to fight next."

After Naruto whispered into the medic's ear he walked over to the proctor.

"I wish to face Sasuke Uchiha," he stated.

"Will Sasuke Uchiha come on down," the proctor said while grimacing inwards at the fact of the kid was doing. He was lessening the completion by asking for someone not there. The crowd would not like it but he shinobi would probably love his strategic thinking. After the one minute waiting period Naruto was declared the winner too many boos from the crowd.

"Who next, kid?" the proctor wondered.

"Gaara of the desert," Naruto stated calmly.

After Gaara came down to the arena floor the match was called and the proctor left.

"Will you fight me or run away like you did in your last match? Will you give my 'mother' your blood? Will you prove my existence?" Gaara wondered out loud, creeping many people out.

Naruto mean while watched as the sand Gaara was spilling out moved closer to him as every second passed. Naruto jumped back and formed a few earth clones to test Gaara's defense. Like he had seen in the preliminaries the defense was automatic and did not rely upon Gaara knowing of the danger. This meant it was more than likely caused by his demon and if that was taken out than Gaara was defenseless.

Naruto made a few earth and wood clones while he waited and prepared the technique to suppress demonic chakra. It was a known fact that Naruto's wood techniques were more powerful than his teacher's; it was only the man's experience that made him better. But suppressing chakra like this showed the difference in natural power versus man made versions of it. His teacher said that he had to attach chakra strings to his target but Naruto and the Shodiame did not and could just sit away from their target in relative comfort.

Gaara screamed as he felt his 'mother' leave him as wooden post sprouted and grew around him. The pain of having so much chakra suddenly leave him was overwhelming and for the first time in a long time Gaara slept; even as the chakra suppressing seal was quickly added to his neck by a Naruto clone before anyone could see.

The crowd cheered again as Naruto was again declared the winner. Naruto was stumbling a bit because of the chakra toll the technique took on him. He had not used it often enough to be secure in using the minimum amount of chakra, the other aspect was it was his first time actually using it on demonic chakra and so he had flooded the technique more than he had to just in case.

"Who will you fight next?" the proctor asked.

"I will fight Shino," he called out. When his teammate stood across from him he sighed.

"I will now forfeit the match to Shino as I am tired," Naruto spoke to the somewhat stunned crowd, although the shinobi nodded at his wise decision to ask for his teammate and then forfeit in order to insure his team had the best possible match ups.

XXX

Naruto made his way into the stands and sat with some of his clan members, including Haku.

"Haku, I want you to take everyone to the estate and lock it down. I will come by and unlock it when it is safe. I feel something bad may happen when an ally sends someone like Gaara in a competition with other shinobi," Naruto told her.

"Should you not come?" she asked him, a bit worried.

"If I leave then people will wonder if I had ant involvement with what may happen. By staying I ensure to people that if something happens that I am loyal but it also ensures you are all safe," Naruto replied.

"Should I not at least stay with you seeing as I am your body guard?" Haku asked.

"I would normally but with Me-Ka as far along as she is I would feel safer if you watched after everyone as the most well trained in the clan," Naruto told her to which she nodded before rounding everybody up and walking with a little haste out of the arena and towards home.

XXX

Naruto watched as the Uchiha entered the arena and was told he had been disqualified. Before he could argue though feathers started to drop and people fell asleep. Naruto threw the genjutsu off with a little difficultly before going to help defend civilians from the invading armies.

He used wood and ice jutsu to ensnare many so that others could finish them off. He saw Kurenai standing completely calm while throwing several small genjutsu at the attackers to catch them off guard and make them stumble or stop so others could take them down. By staying where she was she could help direct the battle towards Konoha's favor by subtlety helping many of the weaker Konoha shinobi.

Naruto also saw as Gai took out as many enemy shinobi as the more famous Kakashi but with half the energy cost with his taijutsu.

Naruto himself besides throwing jutsu out also threw some of his poisoned kunai and shuriken to help slow the invaders.

Naruto watched as Konoha came together to defend itself in a brilliant display. They threw the invaders back. The surprising thing was that the invaders seemed to have been waiting for something that never happened, like their trump card never appeared.

As for the Hokage, he and his two loyal students faced off against Orochimaru who realized that his plan was not going as planned decided to depart before his loses mounted too much. Seeing him flee caused the invaders to pull back as well.

Konoha had won with few losses but had not won anything to decisive as Suna and Oto still had a fair number of shinobi that they had to contend with.

XXX

AN: what do you think? The invasion lasted less time as Orochimaru retreated earlier then in canon.


	17. Chapter 17

I do not own Naruto

XXX

It had been a week since the Chunin Exam Finals and the Invasion that happened afterwards. The notification of the results of the exam had been postponed until everything dealing with the invasion had been worked out, like the new treaty with Suna.

The treaty was a problem. Suna, besides losing their Kazekage and jinchuriki, had not lost many troops. That combined with the fact that to be attacked a desert would have to be crossed led to a standoff with neither side backing down from. Suna couldn't afford, financially, to pay reparations and Konoha couldn't back down to blatant aggression on the part of their former ally.

But life was continuing for Naruto's little clan. Me-Ka had given birth the day after the invasion and everyone was happy to see the new baby named after his father. The other children had all continued their training and were progressing at their own rates, some rediscovering ways to use their bloodlines and others using the skills that they wish to have. All in all life was decent for the close clan.

Naruto himself was seeking out Me-Ka to talk to her about something important. He found her in the main living area rocking her sleeping child.

"Ah, Me-Ka, can I talk to you for a bit?" he started off.

"Sure, just keep your voice low as to not to disturb him," she replied.

Naruto nodded before continuing. "The taijutsu style I am using is incomplete. I was wondering if you were aware of this."

"It is not so incomplete as much as not designed the way you think," was the reply.

"Huh," was his intelligent response.

"It is a supplemental style. You are supposed to have a base style that you then apply some of the weapons and moves too to make your overall style more deadly."

"So to improve I need to find myself a style and then apply my supplemental style to it. This will be harder than I thought," Naruto sighed.

"Naruto, what do you want in a style? If I know I may be able to point you in the right direction," Me-Ka replied.

"I want a style that is so deadly or crippling that people, even taijutsu experts will not fight me in close combat, which will lead them into fighting me in my specialty of ninjutsu, hopefully."

"I have never heard of a style like you are describing but there are other styles that are feared for what they can do. There is the Hyuga style that uses chakra and precision to harm and incapacitate their enemies, although you know that from having a team member who uses it. Another style that is from Konoha is the Hebi style of the Snake Sannin. It was a style of dodging, little movement and meant to counter doujutsu. The last style is one that my husband stole from Iwa. It is called the Mountain Fist style. All the Tsuchikage's knew at least the basics of this style. It used earth manipulation to make them juggernauts that very few could take down; the style was slow but only needed one hit to hurt. From what I remember they used their earth manipulation to also slow down their opponents in some fashion. Those are the three styles that I know about that could possibly fit what you are describing," Me-Ka told him.

"I don't think any single one would fit me but if I put them together maybe it would work," Naruto said.

"True, but you would need more information on all of them. We have the scrolls on the basics of the one but the other two could be hard to find. One is a clan's style and the other is from a traitor, neither is going to have a large amount of information on it at the shinobi library."

"I will just have to ask around then," Naruto replied.

XXX

Naruto was currently looking through scrolls in the shinobi library to glean what he could about the styles Me-Ka described. As suspected not much was recorded on the mechanics of the gentle fist. He could probably add to the scroll what he had learned from sparing with Hinata but chose not to. What he learned about the Hebi style was not useful but drove him to find out more about the reclusive style.

Naruto sighed and rubbed his eyes before looking around the library. It had been an interesting day but he could not help but feel he had not made much progress in his attempt to find out about the styles he wanted. He decided to ask for some help but did not know who to turn to. He wanted his style to get out once he had completed it but not before and it would look interesting to many people for him to ask about a major traitors fighting style. Although he could always say it was to find a counter to it, many people did not have much faith in him.

As he was getting up to leave back to his compound he spotted the lady that watched over the second exam. She was getting asked out by some random shinobi who was commenting upon something that seemed to annoy her from the looks of it. He saw her get a sadistic smile on her face before a large snake slithered out of her coat and glared at the male propositioning her. The man freaked and left hurriedly. Naruto followed the lady for a while before she went into an alley and turned to confront him.

"Why are you following me?" she inquired as she took out a kunai to twirl.

"I wanted to ask if you had any association with Orochimaru…" was all he said before being hoisted against a wall by his neck.

"What is it to you? Are you here to find a traitor like so many others?" she questioned with a glare and a kunai to his chest.

"No, I was wondering if you knew his taijutsu style," Naruto spoke over the hand at his throat.

"Hmmm and why would you want that?" she asked with genuine curiosity.

"I want to incorporate parts of it into a style I am going to create; the fact that it is based on little movement and tricking doujutsu would be a great advantage for the style."

"And you expect me to help you. Why would I take my time to teach a brat like you," she asked after she dropped him to the ground.

"I could make it worth your time. You must have some goal that I could, with my clan's backing, help you achieve," he said between pants for air.

"Yes, I do have a goal but I have problems that I doubt you could help me with," she sneered before she went to turn away.

"The Touketsu Ki clan would do anything to help you reach your goal for help in this," he told her before she got too far away.

"Oh, so you are** that** blonde brat. I doubt with what little pull you have you could do anything in that regard."

"I would be willing to try and offer an alliance to you from the whole clan. The clan, no matter if they stay or go would always answer the call of you and any of your descendents. You would also be allowed onto clan grounds as an honored guest and able to learn many, but not all, of the jutsu that is in the clan's possession," Naruto told her.

Anko was stunned. This brat was practically putting his clan at her disposal for her goal. She was liking that the kid was determined to get his way and smirked at what she would do.

"I will if I can learn the taijutsu style when it is complete. Since I have some experience with what goes into creating it, I will help you not only with the Sannin's style but also in putting it together and changing when need be," she said.

"That is fine, I could need the help. Naruto Touketsu Ki at your service," Naruto said as he smiled for the first time that day and put his hand out to seal the deal.

"Anko Mitarashi and it is I who should thank you," Anko said as she smirked and shook the offered limb.

XXX

AN: So Naruto is getting help with solving one of his biggest weaknesses. The style will be slowly built and if you have any ideas feel free to send them to me.

Sorry for the wait.


End file.
